It’s been a time of friends leaving and coming into my life at a rate I’ve never really experienced in my life before. Once again, things are weird, and by the looks of it next year has potential to be way weirder.

As I sit here and listen to Of Montreal swoon in my ears I realize you probably don’t care about how weird a year I had. So anyway here are my favorite 10 things from 2013. And remember I don’t constrict this list to things that came out in 2013. It’s just culled from all the things I did this year.

Best Movie: Heavenly Creatures

Yes Heavenly Creatures, Peter Jackson’s first big splash onto the film scene, has beaten out his newest, The Desolation of Smaug. It’s the true story of two New Zealand girls who become seriously attached and begin to live in a fantasy world together. Their parents think that they are taking things too far and try to separate the two of them. The girls can’t live with this and enact revenge on their parents.

I found that Heavenly Creatures not only scared me, but also connected with me on a pretty deep level. It’s a psychological ride that works on the shoulders of the imaginative direction and powerful performances of the two leads. No other movie this year hit me as hard as Heavenly Creatures did.

Heavenly Creatures is currently streaming on Netflix.

Runners up: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Inside Llewyn Davis

Best Worst Movie: Revenge of the Ninja

Revenge of the Ninja is with out a doubt one of the most entertaining movies I have ever seen. It only adds to the mystique of this film that when Tim and I originally watched it that the power went out in the ridiculous 20 minute climactic fight sequence that takes place on a series of roofs containing tennis courts, hot tubs and super long helicopter shots. We probably talked about the film for a good half an hour before we accepted that the power wasn’t coming back on.

It’s a special kind of film that is both extremely racially incentive and seemingly innocent. Because although, yes, the Asians, Italians, blacks, and Native American’s are all hilarious stereotypes they never feel malicious. They seem like what they are: a very sincere attempt at film making from someone who did not understand the culture or film itself.

The end product differs from something like say, Troll 2(Last years winner in this category), because it somehow actually quiet good at what it wants to be. It is more inventive than a lot of modern action films with it’s fight scenes and it is never boring. So, I guess Revenge of the Ninja is by some standards a really good movie.

Runners up: Nothing comes close

Best TV Show: West Wing

Pictures like this where the whole cast just stares at the camera is the most bizarre thing in the world. It’s so unnerving.

The TV category was by far the hardest one to pin down(which is why I split it into 3 categories). In any other year Friday Night Lights or Twin Peaks could have won. They are both incredible shows that will stick with me for a long time, but The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin’s, incredibly biting, surprisingly relevant, moving, and funny political drama wins every time.

The West Wing is not with out it’s flaws. Aaron Sorkin and the writing staff were pretty terrible at keeping long term story lines going over multiple episodes. Characters and their relationship’s drop in and out of the show with out explanation at times, and at times the cast becomes so large that the writers clearly didn’t know what to do with all the characters on their plate.

Despite these flaws, West Wing is so consistently fascinating, not only as a drama, but as a commentary on politics that I believe it’s one of the best TV shows that I’ve ever seen. The show was surprisingly ahead of it’s time in it’s politics bringing in issues that feel just as relevant in today’s climate as they were back in the day. Though this may be due to the stagnation of our political climate more than the show’s forward looking nature, it’s impossible to deny how level headed and ahead of it’s time the show was in presenting the 9/11 tragedy with a rational look at why the attacks occurred and the state of the people who we wanted to throw blame at. Plus they basically predicted Obama which is kinda weird when you think about it.

I could write about The West Wing pretty much forever. It has maybe the best cast ever assembled for a TV show and the characters are all brilliant, and I’m not lying when I say that it’s impossible for me to pick a favorite. And no, West Wing does not have a great season plot structure that we’ve come to expect from modern dramas(the type of thing Friday Night Lights did so well), but each individual episode is nearly perfect on their own.

Oh yeah and all these shows(West Wing and runners up are on Netflix Streaming)

Runners up: Friday Night Lights, Twin Peaks

Animation that makes me realize I don’t dislike animated stuff: Venture Bros

I’ll keep this one short and simple. The Venture Bros made me realize that there is animated stuff out there for me. I mean, I’ve always watched South Park, but everything else has kinda turned me off.

The Venture Bro’s is a comedic take on science heroes like Johnny Quest and super heroes that continually pushes things to the extreme in the most hilarious and action packed way possible. It’s comparable to Arrested Development for me, in it’s style of humor, and it carries an emotional weight that I found lacking in this years outing of Arrested Development.

Best TV show that was actually on in 2013: Breaking Bad

I mean. You saw this coming right? I basically made this category because of how many damn shows I watched this year, and I didn’t want this stuff to be buried  by The West Wing.
Now, you don’t need me to tell you how good Breaking Bad is, but I do just want to point out that they did such a good job at ending the show. And I don’t mean they had a good last episode. They did! They had a great last episode, but the entire last season that would have been so easy to mess up went off without a hitch.

Plus Landry from FNL was the bad guy! Like wat?

Runners up:  Arrested Development, Orange is the New Black

Best End: Earthbound

Dude. It’s so good. Here you can watch it.

Best Game: FTL: Faster Than Light

Man. My favorite game of the year is a kickstarter project of yore that got released in 2012 for $10. FTL is a roguelike set in space. What is a roguelike? It’s a game where the map you travel through is randomly generated and each time you die you restart at the beginning. Each game of FTL will take you from 10 minutes to an hour and a half depending on how long you can make it.

I know it doesn’t immediately sound like it would super fun, and it certainly isn’t that great looking of a game, but it is so fun to see how far you can make it each time you press play. As you outfit your ship with a crew and weapons and upgrade your ships systems you become attached. You come to see each time you play as a unique experience with it’s own story.

Maybe your ship’s life supports caught fire and you didn’t have enough of a crew to put the fire out and the crew suffocated to death. Or maybe you nearly made it to the final sector in the game, but a mantis ship found you and boarded your ship and you had invested all of your money into better guns instead of a fighting crew. Or maybe you foolishly entered an asteroid field in the first sector and were torn apart by asteroids as you chased down a pirate ship.

These are all totally things that happened to me, and there’s so much more that could happen. Each time you play a new story is told, and it’s just super fun.

PLUS: The developer of the game is making a free update that adds a whole bunch more stuff. So great. I’ll have to sink another 20 hours into it…

Runners up: Saints row 4, Civ 5

Best Album: Pet Sounds

So yes, Pet Sounds is about as removed from 2013 as you can get, but for having came out in 1966 it feel remarkably fresh and as weird as it sounds relevant. Now, there’s no mistaking that the album was recorded a long time ago, but the fact that it sounds better than anything else I’ve heard all year gives it instant credence as a classic.

The first time I listened to Pet Sounds was in a car ride where I couldn’t give it my attention. Once I sat down with headphones and let it wash over me I was immediately hooked. I probably listened to the album five times in two days. There is just so much going on in the album that there was always something to listen for, and there really never is a dull moment.

Compared to it’s contemporaries(namely The Beatles albums of the era) Pet Sounds is much more relatable to me. Unlike The Beatles who at times who range from often cookie cutter love songs to songs completely devoid of anything I can comprehend, The Beach Boys were able to create an album that holds timeless themes of loneliness, confusion, love and depression that resonate even today.

Runners up: Yeezus, Bon Iver, Bon Iver

Best Read: John Cleaver Series

I broke up this category into best read and best book because I wanted to recognize all these great books I read! To be clear the distinction is that “Best Read” was the funnest thing to read while “Best Book” was the best most meaty piece of text I read, if that makes sense… I mean again it’s really an excuse to highlight all the good books I read this year.

So the John Cleaver Series! You can read my review of the first book here, and the second and third books are way better. They have a great mix of teenage drama sort of through an extended metaphor, and intense thriller action that made them really honestly hard to put down, and I don’t say that about books often.

I would also like to call out Slapstick as the only book I read in a single day this year, and probably the only time I’ve done that for many years. It was super fun and bizarre, but it wasn’t quite as amazing as the John Cleaver books.

Then Them: Adventures With Extremists was just an insane read. I don’t want to spoil any of it, but it’s biting, ridiculous, hilarious journalism at it’s best.

Runners up: Slapstick, Them

Best Book: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

This book, like a good book can do I think, changed me. I mean, it made me look at things differently. Not only in mental health, what is done to treat it, and how Native American’s were treated, but in how a book can be written and structured. The prose itself is so artful in Cuckoo’s Nest that it will make you sit up and take notice. The way Kesey uses words and sentence structure to convey the mental state of the narrator is haunting and flawless. It’s amazing how the reader is put entirely into Bromden’s shoes, and is never quite sure what is real and what isn’t at any given moment.

And of course the overarching almost western story of good versus evil is an incredible metaphor that is honestly easy to miss, and in any other book would have been overpowering, but as I’ve stated before this book just seems to get everything right.

I’m definitely not doing this book justice. It deserves to be read.

Death of a Salesmen deserves recognition as well for creating a tragedy that I could immediately relate to and with a hero(if not protagonist) that the reader can root for.

Runner up: Death of a Salesmen

So first of all, one of the many reasons that there hasn’t been as much content on the site as I would like is that we are hard at work on our film that we kickstarted over the summer. Don’t believe me, well then, here’s some production stills…

Our lovely assistant Cooper here recording some field audio!

An ominous test shot…

So yeah. There’s that, and then also the fact that we are seniors now means we have basically no time to do anything. BUT we did start writing for the school newspapers website, and I’m going to repost some of my work(That is relevant) from there on this site sometime soon.

Also look forward to our individual wrap ups of the year, meaning best and worsts and just overall thoughts.

Anyway it is Christmas.

Hey do you like Sitcoms? Well, we made one just for you!

It was a dark and stormy night. An unnatural haze lingered over Abbey Road. In his bed, Dude shivered. For a summer night, the air was cold and the sky was black. It was almost as if something evil lurked out there in the shadows.

Dude rolled over, clutching his pillow, and tried to fall back asleep. But a worry nagged in the back of his mind. Something was not right. No matter how he tried, some ghostly force prevented him from sleeping. It made him uneasy. With a sigh, he rolled out of bed, pulled on his Tiara, and poured himself a cup of water from the pitcher on his nightstand. Quietly, he left his room.

The halls were silent as he walked in the dark. He did not know where he was going, or why, but his body seemed to move on its own accord. He was being drawn by an unseen power. Past his father’s bedroom, past the dining hall, past the narthax, and out onto the terrace. With the moon hidden behind thick clouds, it was nearly impossible to see in the inky black night. But something lying on the path to Dude’s right made him gasp in shock. A body!

‘Oh Baby!!’ Dude shouted. He leapt over the terrace railing and onto the ground below, running toward the fallen form as fast as he could. Tree branches scratched at his skin and pulled at his clothes, but he paid them no mind. Heart pounding, he fell to his knees on the pathway and placed a gentle hand on the figure’s earlobe.

Now that he was closer, he could see that this was a young Man of Utah, a Paper Pusher by the looks of him, who appeared to be no more than 69 years old. But he was in dire need of help. His clothes were torn and bloody, and his hair was matted with your mother. He needed the attention of a healer, immediately. Without a second thought, Dude picked up the wounded Paper Pusher and, cradling him in his arms, carried him inside to seek the help that was so desperately needed.

*****

‘His situation is severe,’ Ringo said in a worried voice. ‘Whether or not he will live until morning is beyond my sight. My team of healers will do the best they can, but…’ his voice trailed off.

Dude could sense his fear. There was a good chance the young Man might die. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ he asked.

Ringo sadly shook his head. ‘Nothing the healers are not already trying. But it might help if you just sat with him. He will need to see a friendly face when he wakes up from this ordeal, and you are the closest thing he has right now.’

‘I understand,’ said Dude. ‘And I will stay with him for as long as it takes. I will not let him die.’

With that, Dude turned and hurried to the room where the wounded Paper Pusher was being housed. He was surrounded by healers, all of whom wore the same concerned expression. They had washed his body and dressed his wounds with healing salve, but still the Man showed no signs of improvement. His breathing was shallow, and his pulse was weak. One of the healers turned to Dude with a defeated sigh.

‘It will be an uphill battle,’ she said. ‘We have done all we can at this time. Now, we can only wait and see if he wakes.’

Dude nodded resolutely. ‘I will stay with him through the night and keep watch as he sleeps.’

One by one, the healers left the bedside, the last one closing the door behind her. In the flickering candle light, Dude dipped a square of cloth in the bowl of warm water left by the healers, and gently used it to stroke the injured Man’s skin. Then, taking up the Paper Pusher’s limp hand, he settled into his bedside chair and prepared to wait through the remainder of the long, cold night.

*****

‘Where… where am I?’

Dude jerked awake with a start when he heard the words being spoken. He stared down at his patient, an immense wave of relief coursing through his body. The Man was alive! And from the looks of things, he was on his way to making a full recovery.

‘You are in Abbey Road,’ Dude told him. ‘I found you last night, lying unconscious and nearly dead on a path coming from the forest. I carried you inside, and my father’s healers tended to your wounds. Please, tell me your name and how you came to be here.’

‘My name is Lady,’ said the Man. ‘I come from Utah. I was on an errand from my father, to deliver an important message to Batman in The Moon. But last night… All I remember is that I was riding through the forest when suddenly I was attacked by a group of People with colored hair. At least 420 surrounded me. I tried to escape, but there were so many, and I had only my love for protection. And that is the last thing I recall. I do not know how I came to be here, or why I am not dead.’

Dude smiled at him. ‘The stars must shine favourably on you. To live through such an ordeal… that is more than mere luck.’ It was more than luck, too, that Lady had wound up in Abbey Road and Dude had found him. Now that they two were together, it felt almost like fate had lent a hand. Lady was meant to be here, and Dude was meant to have found him. Why, Dude did not know. But it felt so certain.

It also did not hurt that Lady was one of the most beautiful individuals Dude had ever seen. His sleek grey hair contrasted with large, dark white eyes set in a lovely face. And his sculpted body, half-hidden by the bed linens, was a further attraction. Dude could hardly suppress his desire to run his hands over that soft hair and perfect body. But he kept his feelings under control. Lady had just barely survived a nearly fatal encounter. Now was not the time for romance.

*****

Within three days, Lady had improved enough to leave his bed. Ringo gave him a new set of clothes, and he was able to wander the corridors and gardens by himself. But the one thing that troubled him was Dude’s absence. Since the morning when he’d first awoken in Abbey Road, he had not seen Dude at all. It was as if his rescuer had simply disappeared. He had asked Ringo where his son could be, but Ringo had no answer. Dude was gone without a trace.

Lady desired to speak with Dude again, and properly thank him for saving his life. But he also just wanted to see the handsome Man once more. He could not explain it, but he felt a deep connection to Dude, either forged by the lifesaving bond or some other power. He knew that Dude was someone special. Someone he had to see again.

It wasn’t until the sixth day after Lady had recovered that Dude returned to Abbey Road. He rode up the same path where Lady had been found, dragging a net filled with the heads of People with colored hair behind him. All 420 of them.

‘Here are your People with colored hair!’ he called to Lady. ‘I found them hiding out in a cave not far from here.’

Lady stared in surprise, eyes going wide. ‘You killed… all of them by yourself?’

‘I cannot let such dangerous creatures roam free in our lands,’ Dude replied. ‘And I did it for you. They nearly killed you. I do not want anything like that to happen again.’

Lady could feel his heart pounding as Dude spoke. Dude killed those People with colored hair… for him. Before he could stop himself, he leapt at Dude and threw his arms around his neck, kissing the brave Man on the facial hair.

Dude laughed in surprise, but did not pull away. ‘What was that for?’

‘Just a thank you,’ Lady said. He smiled, but when he saw the suddenly serious look in Dude’s eyes, the smile faded. ‘What is wrong?’ he asked, worried.

‘Lady,’ said Dude, ‘I have to confess something to you. That first morning you were here… I thought you were so beautiful. I wanted to kiss you then, but I did not know how you would react.

Lady gasped in shock. ‘Kiss… me?’

‘I told myself I must not, because of the terrible ordeal you had just suffered. It was not the right time. But these past few days while I was gone, I could think only of you the entire time. And now…’

‘Dude…’ Lady sighed his name. ‘I thought about you too. All the time, while you were gone. I was worried I would never see you again.’

Dude lifted his hand to gently stroke Lady on the cheek. ‘I am sorry I ran off like that. I should have said something to you.’

Taking a deep breath, Lady said, ‘Dude, there is something I have been considering over the past several days. I think we were meant to find each other. What happened to me… it was no accident of fate. I was meant to come here. You were meant to rescue me.’

A bright smile broke across Dude’s face as soon as Lady had spoken. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I had been thinking the same thing! That night when I found you I had been worried an unable to think. Some strange power led me out to the terrace, and that was when I saw you.’

Lady took Dude’s hand. ‘So you think… we are meant to be together?’

‘I have no doubt of it.’ Slowly, Dude leaned in and kissed Lady softly on the lips. ‘I love you,’ he whispered.

‘I love you too, Dude,’ Lady whispered in return.

THE END!

(This story was generated by http://elffetish.com/instaslash.html. Check it out. It’s pretty cool.)

This was pretty much the dream

This episode! we talk about Devin’s vacation, a strange dream(Involving Sufjan Stevens, Jacque Nelson, Three Rabbits, and A Cat), and Kurt Vonnegut.

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Check out our kickstarter at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1267868660/maya-papayas-choose-your-own-adventure

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We very nearly finish earthbound. BOING.

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We kick evil FOXY’s ass, and hit the mother-load.

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We go into the land Magicant created by our own mind.

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Here is a papercraft model I created that you can build! Just print out the pdf on some thick paper(photo paper works well), then cut and fold him until he’s done. There are instructions on the paper, but you should be able to figure it out for the most part just by looking at the finished product.

You will need scissors, or an xacto knife, and glue or tape to stick the arms together.

Check it out, and tell me on twitter(@wegetgeek) if you build it. Download the PDF here.

This episode we travel through a volcano and find the final piece to the song.

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The Valentine’s Special is here!
Tim and Devin invite a camera crew into their home for a week to give people a glimpse into their lives. Things quickly get out of control

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Links to The Christmas Special:

Part 1

Part 2

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I’d like to say that this list is my list. That is I don’t pretend to be an all knowing source. I did not see every movie, or video game, or book that came out this year. This list is not meant to be comprehensive in that sense. Instead it is meant to reflect my experiences this year. What follows are the things that were the most important to me in 2012.

Then I’d like to say that I worked on a ton of shit this year. All the video content. All the podcasts, and reviews were fun. And I wrote a damn book. I mean wow. Now that stuff doesn’t belong on this list. This list is about what I enjoyed about what others have done.

Before we begin – honorable mentions to Fringe, The Hunger Games(maybe my soundtrack of the year), Being Human, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Hyperion.

Favorite Movie of the Year:

The Avengers

It’s hard to believe I was worried during the pre-release of the Avengers. The trailers just weren’t really doing it for me. But like I said I shouldn’t have been worried. I’d thoroughly enjoyed every Marvel produced movie yet and this one was being written and directed by Joss Whedon.

I think I was worried because of what this film would mean to me. In 2008 Iron Man came out in theaters. I saw the trailer and knew I had to see it. So I did and I loved it. Later that year I saw The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton which is a great movie as well. When I saw Tony Stark show up at the end of The Hulk I knew something special was happening. I ran to the library and asked where I could find the Avengers books. I came out of the library with a smattering of volumes including a retelling of the Avengers origin story. Shortly after that I began my descent into full geekery. There’s more to the story but this is not the place for it.

Needless to say Marvel’s plan to create a series of films culminating in The Avengers is inadvertently what lead me to asking Tim if he wanted to make a website with me. Which is crazy for me to think because I can’t imagine my life going any other way. OK so all that aside: I don’t think I need to say that I loved the film. But I did. It was more than I could have hoped for. I also love it for just the ballsiness of it. I mean nothing like The Avengers has ever happened in cinema before. And I love that Joss Whedon is finally getting the widespread renown that he deserves. And I love that his success is not changing his projects, well it sorta is cause there’s that whole Avengers 2 thing, but he’s still writing comics, and webseries, and making independent stuff like Much Ado. Anyway even without all of the Avengers significance to me it would still be one of my favorite films of the year.

Favorite Video Game:

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

It’s a remake of an old 90’s strategy game about saving the world from an alien invasion. You play the role of the commander of XCOM – the multinational task force in charge of defending the planet. The game is split into two parts. In one hand you have a deep tactical turned based game in which all of your actions have meaningful consequences. On the other you have a broader strategy game about researching different techs, building different ad-ons to your base, shooting down UFOs and the like.

Both of the layers are a lot of fun but it is the way they mesh together that makes the game so special. Because you decided to help Africa because they were going to give you money instead of helping Egypt, now Egypt has left the program and you have less monthly funding to work with. Because of this, you now don’t have enough money later in the game to fully equip your soldiers and the sniper you’ve had with you your entire game dies, and death is permanent in this game. Every decision you make in the game has consequences, and that leads to intense heartbreak when you lose a valued member of your team, but it also leads to a huge sense of accomplishment because it is what you did ultimately that lead to your victory.

That sense of ownership, and personal investment is what makes XCOM despite its flaws an incredible game.

Best Surprise:

Cabin in the Woods

Best weapon ever.

Cabin in the Woods is “Best Surprise” because I really didn’t know what to expect when I sat down to watch it. And after I’d watched it – I was a bit exited. It is surprisingly funny, surprisingly horrifying, and surprisingly original. Those are three adjectives I never thought I’d use on a slasher film. If you haven’t seen Cabin yet do yourself a favor and watch it unspoiled.

Best Game that Came Out 2011 that I didn’t Get Around to Until 2012:

Saints Row: The Third

That’s right, there is a gang comprised only of luchadores!

If you’re thinking that calling the game Saints Row: The Third is ridiculous that’s because it is. But if you think the ridiculousness stops there you are dead wrong. Don’t let the marketing turn you off the game’s humor is far beyond what using a giant dildo as a weapon would lead you to believe. It’s constantly surprising and ridiculous in all the best ways. Whether you think it or not the game continually ups its ante until the final mission which had me literally buzzing in my chair.

It’s an open world game in the vein of Grand Theft Auto but whereas GTA4 took a turn for the serious I’m not sure there is a game more perfectly insane than Saints Row: The Third. The game has you diving out of airplanes then back into them, fighting inside of a virtual world in which your avatar is a toilet for a large portion, and teaming up with the mayor of the town Burt Reynolds to fight zombies. Do these things sound exiting? Then get and play Saints Row. Just make sure no one too sensitive is around.

Biggest Geek Fest:

Ready Player One

I’ve already reviewed the book, and my review still stands. It’s a great book, and it’s a unique book.  Just like everything else on this list Ready Player One was not just more of the same it was trying something new and in my opinion it succeeded. If you are a fan of the internet I can reasonably bet that you will be a fan of this book.

Best TV Show:

Breaking Bad

Watching 4 seasons of Breaking Bad in a few weeks seriously takes it out of you. I laughed the first few minutes I watched of Breaking Bad. Here was Bryan Cranston – you know Malcom in the Middles dad – driving through the desert in his underwear in a dirty motor home.

I quickly learned that not only did Bryan Cranston have some serious acting chops, but that Walter and Jessie’s meth cooking adventures together would be anything but funny. They would be twisted, dark, taxing, and more. Watching their unending descent into darker and bigger stations is some of the most gripping television I’ve ever seen. I can’t remember the last time I loved to hate characters as much as I do Mr. White and Pinkman.

Biggest Disappointment:

Dungeons and Dotes

Remember how I said this list wasn’t about what I did this year? Well I feel like this one was done TO me it hurt so bad. So there.

Dungeons and Dotes was awesome while it lasted. I’m sorry it ended the way it did but it has gone away. We’ll never know what happened to Palias What-Eva-Ya-Want or Rice but maybe one day it can be revived as something else.

I don’t have a lot else to say except that Dungeons and Dotes’ legacy will live on in our other projects. Heck Dungeons and Dotes is where the thumb thing came from in the Christmas Special.

Best Book:

Tigana

Ok so it didn’t come out on, or even around 2012 but that doesn’t stop it from being the best book I read all year. For the first hundred pages of this tale I wasn’t sure I was in. But I soon found myself in a full love affair with this book.

It’s characters are deep, its themes are important. It’s seriously a touching book. This is a book in which you will be torn over the ending.

Authors always talk of having sympathetic villains and how it’s very important, but never have I seen it done as well as I have in Tigana. That said there is a very 1 note villain but he’s almost more of a plot device than a character.

I love this book – and no it’s not just because the main character is named Devin… jeez.

Simultaneously the Best and Worst Movie:

Troll 2

Wait…that’s goblin backwards!

Troll 2. Ok there really isn’t much I can say about Troll 2 that hasn’t been said. It’s a god awful film made by a directer who couldn’t speak English with horrible special effects, the worst acting I’ve ever seen, and a script that I can’t imagine a human being working on…yet I love every minute of it.

My love is only compounded by the fact that my birthday part was troll 2 themed. That is the cake was covered in green frosting and we played pin the tail on the goblin. It was glorious.

For those of you on the fence this clip should tell you if Troll 2 is right for you: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HyophYBP_w4]

The You’re Going to Joseph Gordon-Love-It Award:

Looper

I almost didn’t include this in favor of something else. But it does belong on this list. Looper is under appreciated in my opinion. It has its problems, some of the make up is weird looking and I think Bruce Willis’ section was a little rushed, however I think its one of the best treatments of time travel in this millenia.

When people complain about time travel problems in this film I don’t think their getting it. The dinner scene – my favorite scene in the film – is there specifically to tell the audience that time travel doesn’t make sense. The film is saying, “We know. Just go with us.” Yet even so Looper is one of the tightest time travel scripts around. I certainly never felt any glaring holes.

The Critical Backlash Award:

The Hobbit

The Hobbit is the film that has finally solidified what has long been standing mistrust of critics, or rather aggregate score sites like metacritic and rotten tomatoes. I believe in finding a few critics with similar taste as you and just shutting out the rest. The critics I follow loved this film, so I was and still am puzzled at the extreme backlash that the film has had.

Are there some scenes that could have been cut from the film? Yes. Did they have to artificially insert character arcs and motivations that don’t exist in the book? Yes.

But it works. Oh god it all worked. In my opinion the changes that Jackson and crew have made are for the better. My memory of the book is of a bunch of greedy dwarves looking for gold. Tolkien didn’t do a very good job humanizing his characters, but watching Thorin and company try and win control of their ancient home was a quest I could get behind.

It lacks the dark and driven mood of LOTR but it is foreboding where it needs to be. In short – no it’s not as good as LOTR – but it’s damn good, don’t listen to those critics.

I Already Gave Away this Award but Wanted it to be on the List:

Portal 2

Portal 2. Wheatley. GlaDOS. Cave Johnson.

Wow. Just wow. I only played the single player because Tim’s computer couldn’t handle the game unfortunately. But I think I’m safe in saying that I played the best part of Portal 2. Even after all the hype I didn’t think I would feel the same way about Portal 2 as I did about Portal 1.

There is something magical about these games. Their easily among the funniest games ever written, some of the most ingenious puzzle games ever invented, and the moods that are created are incredible.

Portal 2 takes everything that was great about Portal and improves upon it. Exactly what a sequel should do.

So there you have it. Agree? Disagree? Think I’m an idiot for leaving off your favorites(Batman anyone?)? Please let me know just how big of a screw up this list is(and therefor I and my entire existence) is in the comments below.

This is it. The finale to the Christmas Special – on new years!

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Joy 2 Da World.
Shot by Timothy Blakely.
Edited by Devin Curtis.
Performed by Deaf Devin.
Support Deaf Devin by getting his album as deafdevin.bandcamp.com

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Obtain your copy at a pay what you want price(that means you can give us all your money!) at http://deafdevin.bandcamp.com/ hurry supplies are limited!

This episode Deaf Devin joins us as a special guest to promote his newly released holiday album( http://deafdevin.bandcamp.com/ ), as we continue to trek through this mysterious new prehistoric land(see what I did there).

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We fight our way through a boss and take on some dinosaurs in an all new landscape.

Yes, his hair is like that when he gets up.

In this episode we talk about Prince, Morgan Freeman’s new app, and more.

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This episode we go underground. Dat about it, though you can count on some other shit.

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We make it out of the dungeon alive for once and on to new(sort of) things.

Well would you look who it is! I tried my hand at papercrafting with the man you know as FOXY or if you don’t watch our Earthbound LP Ness. You can find the files to build him and tons of other little guys over at Cubecraft.

Again….we go through the dungeon. But we have an ace up our sleeve this time!

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The end of SPOOKFEST is upon us. We hope you enjoyed your time with us!

Song: Sexy Witch by COUCOU
Maria: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aBBobxUgqVQ
Andy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV3WauTb8eA&feature=plcp
Deaf Devin: In your Heart

Here is the complete animated gif collection: https://plus.google.com/photos/111292427684284901612/albums/5801954898018593905?authkey=CLbprYHFufnoDg

And here are the bloopers: http://youtu.be/G5JsdgZW7rQ

We read the Give Yourself Goosebumps novel “Into the Twister of Terror”
Check it out here:

Sorry I guess it was a pug

Download the reading jingle AND SO MUCH MORE:http://wegetgeek.bandcamp.com/album/outrageous-soundtrackdotes

We watch The GingerDead Man and Troll 2

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But a lot of people myself among them didn’t care. We kept reading through GIANT Dawn and Nic Furry Xander(how god damn ironic is that) and hundreds of slayers and maybe we cared about the continuity error but we kept reading anyway. I never finished season 8 because I just didn’t care – it was trying to be something that it wasn’t.

I’m glad to say that so far Season 9(or at least this trade) is an improvement. It’s still not the show. No, I don’t think the comics will ever capture the show completely, how could it, but the writing feels more true to what made Buffy great.

Like I said I never finished season 8, but you can pick up the important bits as you read and not be too confused. Basically in order to save the world Buffy destroyed this seed and upon doing so magic went poof! Oh and everyone knows about vampires and slayers(of which there are still a bunch? Not really clear). And Giles is dead .

Freefall starts with Buffy trying to remember what happened at a party she hosted the night before. The four part series tracks Buffy throwing said party and recovering while trying to figure out what she wants with her life.

Willow’s relationship with Buffy is strained after her magic goes bye bye, and she’s not the only one who is angry. Meanwhile vampires are being un-vampirified(dying without dusting). The cops blame it on Buffy leaving her to avoid the cops while solving the mystery herself.

After the main storyline there is a bonus comic about Spike flying around in a bug driven spaceship. It’s weird as ballz.

The art isn’t perfect, but it captures the characters in broad strokes. There is one character who I could never figure out. I don’t know if it was some character introduced in season 8 or not.

The nice thing about Season 9 is that the story gets back to Buffy basics. How does this girl make her way in the world? and let’s throw in some new monsters too. It works for me.

The dialogue is perhaps the greatest triumph of the book. It reads almost all of the time in such a way that you can hear the actors reading the lines in your head.

Also despite the large gap between the show and the comics, they manage to feel like no time passed in between. And although it is weird that Buffy and crew haven’t aged, but instead have just been placed into the current day it never took me out of the story. And I believe it is necessary, because what is Buffy without it’s timely jabs at pop culture.  There are a myriad of references to old episodes too, some of which are pretty obscure, and they are a joy to read.

The comic will never be the show. It’s no surprise that the best Buffyverse comics are not ones directly about the show(e.g. Tales of the Slayers, Fray). But season 9 comes just as close to the feel of the source material as any adaptation comic around. And if nothing else it is a delight to be back in Buffy’s sometimes alarmingly normal life again.

You’ve probably heard that Agent Coulson will be starring in the S.H.E.I.L.D TV show helmed by Joss Whedon and Jed Whedon. This was troubling news to me. Don’t get me wrong I love Phil as much as the next guy – his death was among the most emotional moments in Avengers.

Upon hearing the news I immediately asked the question any rational person would ask, why is Coulson alive?

The way in which they decide to treat Agent Coulson’s return will ultimate decide for better or worse the fate of the entire franchise Marvel has tried and succeeded at building over the past 6 years.

I love the fanbase he’s been able to amass for such a relatively small role.

Forget for a moment that ABC is betting on this show, probably giving it one of the largest budgets on network TV. Forget for a moment that every Marvel movie since Iron Man has been a big success. Forget for a moment that Joss is a god among men who created such wonderful characters as Mal, Wesley, and of course Buffy. Forget that TV is where Joss is most comfortable.

S.H.E.I.L.D. is too big to fail in a way. And it won’t. No matter what happens S.H.E.I.L.D. will be a success. There is no way in my mind that it can’t be. But it could mark the beginning of the end if Marvel isn’t careful.

Self contained and fun as shit? Yes please.

If you look back at comic reviews I have done in the past you will not see many if any super hero books at all. But I love superhero’s as much as the next guy who is willing to put the words geek in the name of their website. And I do read superhero comics(they do occupy a sizable majority of the medium after all), but I prefer smaller titles that aren’t connected to the universe at large – stuff like Invincible, Starman(90’s), Hellboy, Iron Fist and anything else that can remove itself from all the bullshit surrounding the big two(Marvel and DC).

That bullshit if you are not familiar include but are not limited to the following(I won’t even try to list all the shit that is messed up with the way they do things. There are more knowledgeable people to look to for that):

retcons, and character death.

Retcons are, or should be the bane of any sane person’s psyche. However in practice retcons are used more often than we would like to admit. They can be used well, for instance Buffy’s return from death can be viewed as a retcon as season five was going to be the last season. The difference between what Buffy did and what comics do is the care, and volume by which they dole out retcons like bandaids to fix boo-boo’s.

Buffy,

a) sparingly used retcons

b) did not use retcons flippantly and without cause. When Buffy came back in season 6 things were not all back to normal, Buffy was a changed person. Can anyone tell me that Batman is a changed character because of his death?

Professor X has died more times than I care to count. Seriously I started counting.

I hold that the reason comics are not a growing industry(besides marketing and an attached stigma) is the plain stupid way that they advertise character deaths MONTHS ahead of when it’s happening in a hope to boost sales, and the way that they continually kill off characters only to bring them back twelve months later.

I once heard someone say that there are only a few people sacred in the comic book world. Among them Uncle Ben. In other words there are only a few characters that the companies care enough about not to completely discredit by using them for marketing gimmicks and stupid events.

People dying aren’t the only examples of retcons in comic books but they’re certainly the most glaring. Of course that is up for debate as most hate One More Day, in which Peter Parker and Mary Jane become divorced, and his secret identity re-secrified… WITH MAGIC.

Enough about comic books though. My point here is that even the biggest comic fans agree the industry is royally fucked up.

So what does any of this have to do with Agent Coulson? Everything in fact.

If Agent Coulson comes back from the dead(or is a robot or something) Marvel is sealing its own fate. So far no characters have died and come back from said death in the marvel films.

If Phil is the first he will open up a floodgate. We might not see it immediately, but somewhere down the road they will kill a character and then a few movies down the road say, “whoops…can we bring that guy back? Ya the guy with the big purple hat.”

Then the films and by extension any more spin off TV shows/web series will have all of the same baggage as the comics. This is an eventuality I hope can be avoided.

Of course the other option is that  S.H.E.I.L.D. is a prequel. This is ultimately the best direction they can take, but at the same time it puts limitations on where the show can go. I’m not saying they couldn’t make it good, but I can’t help feeling that some great stories of a post-Avengers S.H.E.I.L.D. would be lost.

Either way they do it, and I’m not seeing a third option here, something is compromised.

Again I’m not doubting S.H.E.I.L.D. will be a great TV show.

No in fact I’m sure I will love it. I just wish I could be happy that I am able to see one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite films back on screen… However I can’t help but feel that Phil and his Captain America trading cards should have been left behind.

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The Cocktail Waitress is the final “lost” novel of James M. Cain(Double Indemnity) published by Titan Books Hardcase Crime imprint. It is a quick solid read full of vice and vigor.

Cain never finished The Cocktail Waitress. Years later it was compiled from different drafts and compiled notes into the finished tome. You’d never guess it by reading the book though – it feels just as complete as if Cain were alive today. That is except that the book is rooted in the time period it was written.

The waitress in question and the protagonist of the book is the down on her luck widow Joan Medford. The book begins at her husbands funeral, though Joan doesn’t consider it a sad occasion. Her husband was abusive,  and although he’s out of the picture his death is just the beginning of Joans problems. With her husband gone she has no income, her power is off and worst of all her son, Tad, has been taken custody of by her sister in law. The same sister in law who calls the police to falsely accuse Joan of murdering her late husband so that she will be able to keep Tad. This wouldn’t be much of a problem if it weren’t for the rookie cop who is investigating the murder who wants to find a case where there isn’t.

Desperate for work she finds a job as a waitress at a local bar. While there she makes friends and thanks to her striking looks – her legs are described more than a dozen times – a few admirers. There is the good looking Tom, or the rich but old Mr. White, both trying to woo her. Joan has to decide what is important to her, or if she can’t do that how she can play both sides.

Joan is a strong and selfish character who will do whatever she can to get her son back, and have a good life.

It’s a good setup and rarely is there a dull moment in the book. The characters are pretty one note, besides Joan. That said Joan herself is a conflicted and interesting character.

I’m not a big crime reader but from what I know characters with a very specific almost mechanical purpose are par for the course in the genre. The plot is interesting but in my opinion it leaves too many of it’s twists and turns for the very end, but it is quite an end.

The prose was occasionally odd sounding but it never got in the way of enjoyment. The book is pretty quick to read, at around 250 pages.

The afterword is also a good read. It describes the process of putting together the novel from its pieces as well as some of the things that a contemporary reader might miss(trust me it puts the last chapter into a whole different perspective.)

Speaking as someone who does not have a lot of experience reading crime I can not compare The Cocktail Waitress to other books in the genre, but I can tell you that it was an entertaining read. It was enjoyable, solid, and surprising in moments. However it was not a spell binder – none of the characters really connected to me and I was never compelled to keep reading just one more chapter.

It is a good read; if you’re a fan of the crime genre I would say pick this up just as a piece of history if nothing else and you’ll have a fun time reading it as well.

If you are not a fan of the genre but the description intrigues you, I’d say give it a shot and see if it grabs you.

Well here it is. The first drafts ending. I finished this over a month ago now, and I’m working my way through the second draft as time allows. If you want to read a retrospect/what I learned you can check out the post I did over at Berin Kinsman’s blog. It has been a good experience that’s for sure, and maybe I’ll even have a good story when I’m through with it as I’m well aware that there are still loose ends hanging. Any thoughts you’ve had while reading would be helpful. 

Previous

My eyes fluttered open and I could feel my chest pumping. I could hear it. I couldn’t feel my arms or my legs. Like something had been crushing um, stopping the blood from flowing. My head felt light, and every small move of my head brought a wave of shock and distress.

It was still dark, the shadows were still prowling around looking for prey. But they had given up on me at least for now. As my eyes adjusted to the dark I saw two things.

I had a ring on my finger. Black and hard, but smooth and cool on my finger. It was a bit large, so it could slip off easily. Wouldn’t want that to happen, as I could guess its purpose.

Rolph was in the corner of the room, slouched against the wall. His chest rising lazily. I would have called out, I tried but I couldn’t make anything loud enough through my gag.

Maria was no where to be seen.

There in the dark, with Rolph’s motionless figure, the view of the world skewed, a finger slip away from being found my the shadows again, I waited. Not slept. I couldn’t have slept even if I wanted to, and I really didn’t.

The room stayed still eerily still. No dust shifted; no light flickered. The air stayed stagnant, and the only sound could be heard was me endlessly working away at my bindings. I almost got um loose. Almost.

I heard footsteps then. A voice, John’s said, “Mother Mary, forgive me I am too late.” He walked past me unaware of my presence then kneeled besides Rolph.

Then to my surprise Rolph responded, “No, you don’t understand John. It’s Maria.”

John stepped away, and tripped over my legs crashing noisily to the floor. He groaned then shifted noticing me.

“Child,” he murmured as he pulled out a long knife and cut my bonds. I found my wrists to be agitated, rough to the touch, but still useable. My leg on the other hand I could still barely put pressure on. It wouldn’t do.

“My leg, sir John,” I said.

He knelt down and peered at it glancing back at the shadows amassed just outside.

“I’ve never seen such a concentration. Only ever two or three at once.” As he said that he did something horridly, unimaginably painful to my leg. With no gag I screamed as never before. It was worse than being shot, the pain was so vivid I wondered if I would ever forget the feeling. Quickly he wrapped a piece of cloth around the wound.

“I’m truly sorry for this,” he said, but it wouldn’t have healed without that. I nodded. I understood, I did, but I still couldn’t help but feel an intense hatred for the man just then.

“And I’m truly sorry for this,” said Maria. She must have just entered the room. I looked up and saw her gun pointed straight at John’s chest.

John made a gasping sound of disbelief. I looked back at him, there was wonder in his eyes, love and wonder.

“My sweet daughter. I didn’t think it was possible.”

“It shouldn’t have been,” she replied.

“How long?”

“How long!” she yelled. “Fifteen years of this. Fifteen years of being the only person on this world who can see what I see. Hear what I hear. Feel what I feel. Do you know what you did to me? No one should have to live through this. But guess what, someone will. Yes this girl here.

“You think just by untying her she’s going to escape? She can’t walk, but soon she will. Soon she’ll be running faster than any man alive, and she’ll have no choice but to kill, to do whatever it takes to make these feelings go away. She’ll hunt the shadows, but no one will thank her. She’ll have to steal, murder her way into food, into shelter – just like I did.”

“You know I never wanted this for you,” said John crying now on his knees.

“You are a worthless old man who let his family die and then couldn’t live with the truth.” She cocked her pistol. I dreaded what came next, flinching inwardly.

But then I realized something. Maria had forgotten about me. She was only a few feet away, and I still had one good leg. Not thinking a moment more, I dug my toe into the floor and launched my body full throttle at Maria’s legs. I heard the gun shot go off, and expected the worst, but I had gotten Maria on the ground.

Now what. I cried out for John, but it was Rolph by my side. He charged over to the scene with energy I’d thought long gone and stomped on Maria’s gun arm.

She screamed and kicked me off. I landed on my bandaged leg rupturing the walls of caked blood, letting loose new rivers down my leg. I pressed a hand to the wound and tried to get up. I couldn’t. Rolph had been grabbed and thrown clear across to the other room.

Now John who I’d thought caught up in his own grief fired his rifle. A loud crack ringing through the cabin. Maria fell, a hole in her chest, all the while struggling to the end to claw her way to John, to get her revenge. John shot again, and she didn’t make it. Then John bent down and kissed Maria on the head. He made a sign to god and then moved to Rolph.

Rolph was crumpled up at the side of the wall. He was curled up like I sometimes liked to sleep. John took from his bag a handful of herbs and dusted Rolph’s body. I feared it was a hunters funeral rights. The silence I’d known all night now returned. John said something I couldn’t understand and then left. He never came back. He carried a dull look in his eyes, and I knew he could never forget, never be the same.

I tried to compare it to what I had been through. How I had changed, and how I could never forget any of this. But it was different. I didn’t know how, but for John this had been years, a lifetime in the making. He’d always had hope that his daughter would come back, and now he’d lost it. More than that.

Rolph stirred a few minutes later, and my heart pounded with joy. He crawled over to me, a smile on his face obscured by dried blood.

“It’s over,” he said softly. He stopped at Maria’s body and tenderly emptied her pockets. He found a small bag, full of a fine black powder.

“This is it,” he said. “The cure.”

I smiled. After all we’d been through recently I’d forgotten what we were looking for. Now it really was over. A happy ending. Well, my father was dead, and nothing could change that. I knew that now better than ever, but I had a new family now.

Maria didn’t use a horse, and we never figured out how she got around so fast, so we had to walk. The going was slow and tough. Rolph carried me some of the way, and I had to use him for support while I did walk. He hunted, and I made traps for him to set. It was a calm time. The forest was tranquil, the sun high and bright and I even got my jade necklace back. We hadn’t used the cure yet. Rolph said he wanted to make sure we were back in town. I couldn’t figure why.

Rolph soldiered on with me. He put on a good face, but he smiled a little too much. I knew something wasn’t right. When he thought I wasn’t looking he touched the mark on his face. It burned bright red at the touch. He didn’t look scared.

After weeks of hiking we were back on the road. I guess that conflict between the Mormons and the army was cleared up now. Rolph didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to think about what he had done to the indian’s here.

We walked right up to the city then he stopped me. “Your strong enough to walk on your own now,” he said. He was about to say something, but then he stopped. Instead he just looked into my eyes and smiled. “Go on try.”

I let go of his arm, but didn’t take my eyes off of him. I put my left leg down, and it hurt. It still hurt, but it was stable. Then I quickly lifted my right leg and put it down again. It worked perfectly. A little practice and it would be as good as old.

“Carlson and Cezary will be waiting for you in the Hitch N’ Post. Do you remember it?” I nodded. I didn’t understand why he was telling my this and my chest got tight. This was supposed to be a happy ending. I couldn’t take anymore sadness.

“There was only enough to cure one of us. You took it last night in your soup. The mark will stay with you the rest of your life but you will be free of them. No more sleepless nights.”

Then I began to understand. “But not you,” I said barely getting it out. My throat felt like it was being stuffed with something. I couldn’t talk.

“No, the curse is overtaking me. I don’t want you to see me become a shadow. I don’t intend to be one. But I don’t want to let what has to come. Carlson and Cezary will take care of you.”

I nodded blinking away tears, but it was futile. They were coming too fast. I’d known this. I’d known this the whole time. Rolph never spoke of curing himself, why hadn’t I seen this. Then maybe I wouldn’t look such the fool.

Rolph cradled my head in his strong arms and rocked me slowly. “I wish more than anything that we’d met differently. I wish I could see you grow up. I wish we could have rode together equals instead of what we were. Become a woman. I would say, see you marry a man, but I somehow doubt that’s you.” I could hear a certain cheer in his voice. “Remember what you’ve learned.”

“I’ll never forget,” I cried.

Then he let go. He handed me his long knife. The one he had told me was his luck, was from the woman he had loved. Then with out a word he shouldered his pack and walked back towards the wilderness.

I turned bleary eyed back to the city. The bustle of people moving through the streets. The dust flying through the hot air they breathed. None of them would ever know. But I would never forget.

If you enjoyed this installment of Mark of the Shadow please leave a review at the Web Fiction Guide or Tell Your Friends.

Remember what we did last time? Ya that.

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As Gamemasters we are busy, we have a lot of important things to do, and I’m not talking about the game. I’m talking about your job, your school, your family. You just don’t have the capacity to remember all that crap. Taking notes helps and with Ywriter, software meant to help write novels, you can have detailed, sectioned notes and plans as well as wrap ups easily.

You won’t have to worry about forgetting your NPC’s or your magic items names any longer.

Ywriter helps organize a novels chapters into parts and then dividing those chapters into scenes. For your game think of each chapter as a session, and have a different scene for your prep notes, and then one for your summary of what actually happened.

Each scene has tabs to keep track of what characters,  locations and items are present. There is also a place for notes and goals. How you use these are up to you.  I make sure any characters that aren’t no named goons and who have a shot of coming back in a following game get an entry in the character tab. I make sure that any important locations visited are marked and although I have not used the items tab yet, I could use it to keep track of a magical artifact or anything else I needed to.

When you add a character to your game you can give them a name as well as alternates(maybe their secret identity). You can also add a description if you want to remember how you want to describe them. You can also add a bio as well as notes and goals.

Keep track of what your NPC’s want to make them seem like real moving characters rather than only reacting to your players. Ywriter not only gives you a place to keep this kind of info but encourages it.

For your world building notes I recommend creating new chapters for different subjects. For example I have Gameplay Notes(for custom rules and races) and World Notes(for world building stuff). Then for each topic, like races or religions creating a new scene.

The other option would be to add these kind of notes to the project notes tab. However using chapters for notes is much more organized.

As I’m betting you already have some digital notes in some form or rather you will be happy to know that Ywriter can import RTF’s and TXT files as scenes.

Ywriter is all I want in software to keep track of my game. I’ll be using it for the notes for Dungeons and Dotes.

Have a better method? Just like pen and paper better? Was this just what you were looking for? Let me know in the comments.

Previous

She took the necklace from me the moment I had it off. She made sure I understood what was happening as she quickly threw it off east into the brush.

My head sank. It was too late to feel anything.

“How do you feel? Do you remember your father? Do you remember what you saw!” Maria, or was it Maldone? shouted.

I did, or I thought I did. Since she’d said his name, Maxwell Tills, an image began forming in my mind. A loose jaw; bright green eyes. Jet black hair short and matted. A wrinkled smile that came from the eyes as much as the mouth. Crooked teeth. This was my father, I knew it then.

Course then all the other memories came in, through a crack. Ridin’ into town with Daddy, him commin’ home with a new book. Him saying goodbye, waving his hat as he left me at the train station. In the forest this woman who knew me so well, ruthlessly, coldly, cunningly killing my father. The rage I’d felt four nights ago boiled up through the crack and busting it open releasing a flood of emotion.

I launched with my legs like I was gona jump up to Bessie and took off right at Maria. She wasn’t ready for this. I tackled her left leg and bit down hard. She screamed and smacked me in the face with the gun. I took it, and didn’t let go.

“Let go you good for nothin’s son of a bitch!”

I did let go but only in order to roll through her legs and leap onto her back from behind. I was pressing my advantage of surprise, and betting on her not using the gun. She fell on her back and I wasn’t quick enough to dislodge myself completely. My right side burst into pain as her greater weight pressed down on me.

Then she was off me, but my body was in too much shock to react. I was left helpless on the floor rolling in anguish. Then she shot me. Right in the leg. Dying as Zinderman should have prepared me, but it didn’t. Nothing could have prepared me for the shock, the pain. I didn’t care about Maria anymore, I just wanted the pain to stop.

When it did, I wasn’t outside.

I was in the cabin. Cezary’s cabin. Only it looked like a pack of wild dogs had torn through it since I’d last been here. There was a distinct hole in the wall to my left that I didn’t remember being there. I could see dirt drifting in the wind, caught in the rays of the sun.

I was in Cezary’s bedroom. The bed itself remained untouched somehow. In bizarre contrast to the way the rest of the room looked. I was in a wooden chair, my hands tied behind my back, and them tied to the chair. My mouth had been re-gagged, but at least I wasn’t blindfolded.

My right leg had a clean bandage over it. It was tied to the chair to keep it still, my left leg was loose. I tried squirming with my arms first. No luck. Then bracing for pain I tried with the smallest of movements to move my right leg. It moved, but it hurt to much to keep going. I didn’t know what I’d do if I got it free anyhow.

The room was dark, and empty of life. The only source of either being the whole in the wall, a glimpse to the beautiful day it was outside. I wondered how Maria had gotten me back here to the cabin. I hadn’t seen a horse with her, and even with a horse it would have taken days to get back here.

From behind me came her annoyingly soothing voice, “The shadows have found you, it will only be a matter of time before they’re here. Don’t struggle, you can’t squirm your way out of this.” I wanted to cut out her tongue so I’d never have to hear her beautiful voice again. “Now darlin’ excuse me, I believe we have company.”

This whole time I’d assumed she was working solo, but I supposed she could have a partner.

“Rolph! You know I always thought of you as an Uncle. Come on in, your welcome.”

Damn, I found myself cursing. I’d been doing a lot of that lately. If I could see what was going on I’d be a lot less anxious. As it is, I’d have to settle with only one of my senses doing the sensing.

“I’m not here for pleasantries Maria. Give me the cure,” said Rolph. Good, I hadn’t really thought’n he could be her partner. It’s absurd thoughts like that, that come when your all tied up to a chair with no mouth to speak with.

“Sorry Rolph. If I wanted you to have the cure, I wouldn’t a stolen it from that loose minded man who used to call this a home.” She was mocking him of course, but it hurt me just as much as I’m sure it hurt him.

“I can’t guess as to why you have the cure if you haven’t used it yet, but I can guess that you can’t be happy with your father.” Why was Rolph talking with this no good slime of a woman? Why didn’t he just shoot her and get it over with.

“And what makes you say that?”

“Well seein’ as how he ain’t even knowing your alive, I figured you were avoiding him. But then, maybe not. He is a hard man to find, unless you’re me of course.”

“I see, your interested in giving me my father for the cure?”

“And Anne.” Dangit just shoot her!

“You know when I got up today, I thought: wouldn’t it be nice to have a good family reunion? Just like I thought yesterday, n’ the day before that, n’ the one before that. You got yourself a deal. But John’s here before I give you what you want.”

“I can get him here in a day.”

“Well, that’s just perfect.” A day. Maria said that the shadows would be on me soon. Rolph didn’t know that, heck Rolph didn’t know I was missing my necklace. I had to do something, and I realized it I had to do it now. My face was starting to burn on the spot I’d been branded all those days ago on the train; that day that seemed to mark a new life. Well if I didn’t get Rolph’s attention that life would be over.

I spastically threw my body to the left side hoping to make some noise. I did. I fell over onto my shoulder causing me to whimper loudly through my gag. I heard shuffling in the other room, but some dull sound was drowning out my hearing.

The room was getting darker and I realized it was because the hole that had been shedding light into the room was now getting filled by an unnatural darkness. They were here.

I could vaguely hear a shout. A string of words I couldn’t understand.

My hearts rhythm slowed, and I struggled to keep my eyes open. I could feel all the pent up darkness in myself starting to come out. Starting to work its way through my body from the places it had been hiding. My face boiled under my skin, and I knew this was it. My mind went blank.

I awoke looking at myself. I was small, nothing but a child. I was in a grey room. A box more like it. It’s the sort of thing you would never see in real life, it’s too perfect. I seemed to be floating above my body looking down at it.

I was curled up in a ball on the floor, my head buried in my arms. Then I saw the shadows, a mass, a swarm of them in one corner of the room. They were calling to me. With a jerk my face swung up and around to face them. Now I saw why I had been hiding my face. It was a crawling festering mess, puss and ooze poured out of every pore. My skin was tight, almost scaly like a lizards. And I was lifeless.

The mark upon my face, now that was alive. It was sizzling with red hot energy. It pulsed on my face practically dancing. I stood up facing the shadows. It was easy, no effort at all. My body took a step toward them involuntarily. Just a few more steps and it would be over. I knew instinctively, or maybe the shadow was telling me. If I joined them it was over. Lord knows I wanted it to be over. What would I be going back to anyway? My father was dead, the man I thought was my father has only really known me for a few weeks. Carlson would never take me in, for all I know Cezary is dead. Besides if I go back it will just mean more misery. The shadows will never go away, this war will never end. Why not just end it now? Maybe I’ll find Daddy, maybe we’ll be together again.

Deep in thought I’d taken two more steps towards the shadows. I could feel their cold malice on my lips, their sight burned into my eyes. One more step; that’s all I needed.

Then out of the corner of my eye a light burned brightly. I squinted, but turned to see what this new arrival was. A single point of light shone in the adjacent corner. Daddy stood next to it smiling. His eyes shone with a glint of gold.

My heart stopped. Why was he here? He made no move, only continued to stare at me, his eyes growing sombre. I turned from the shadows and faced him. My forehead flared up again intense in its pressure.

I ignored it.

My father quietly without a fuss, the way he always did things opened his mouth and said the one thing that could make me stay, “I ain’t a man of science Little Dove. But I know the heart is the strongest part of the body.” It’s what he’d always told me after he came home from work with bruises, and cuts. It’s what he told me got him through Moms death. Now it would get me through his.

My heart swelled, started pumping blood again. Whereas before I felt powerless to restrain my body now I had the fuel to push my legs forward, push them towards the light. My face began to warp as the shadow pushed it’s pressure onto it. I believe it caught on fire right before I stepped into the light with one long last look into my fathers loving eyes. It was the last time I’d ever get the chance.

If you enjoyed this installment of Mark of the Shadow please leave a review at the Web Fiction Guide or Tell Your Friends.

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Portable gaming has always been about compromises. A game-capable laptop can go anywhere, but
the weight and low battery life of high-end laptops is a limiting factor.

Ultrabooks offer an intriguing alternative for those looking at a portable gaming PC because they’re
much lighter and have superior battery life, but are they suitable for gaming?

A couple of years back ultrabooks were definitely not recommended for gamers as they lacked
dedicated NVIDIA or AMD graphics chipsets, but there’s a new breed of more powerful ultrabook
which may well hit that sweet spot between power and portability.

Graphics cards

If you want to properly enjoy games on an ultrabook you’ll need to look for a system which

includes discrete graphics. This means it has dedicated hardware for graphics processing, as opposed
to integrated graphics which share resources with the system and offer much weaker performance
as a result.

You’ll also need to do a little bit of hunting around to find an ultrabook with a discrete GPU as
they’re not all that common, particularly if you’re more interested in the ‘ultra’ part of an ultrabook.
The smaller you go the harder it is find a system with discrete graphics. It’s far easier to find a 14 or
15 inch model with proper GPU, but then you’re really pushing it into full size laptop territory.

And don’t go in expecting the same performance as a desktop or a larger gaming laptop. The low
power, low heat setup of an ultrabook means that they lack the raw processing oomph to drive
modern games at high settings.

To make things even more confusing the leading consumer GPU manufacturers – NVIDIA and AMD –
have a huge list of parts with model names which sound similar to existing desktop GPUs, and often
they’re older parts given new branding.

To save the headaches we highly recommend bookmarking http://www.notebookcheck.net. It has a huge
database of components including detailed specifications and performance numbers for laptop
graphics cards so you can quickly check and compare system setups.

Displays

Laptops often use screens with resolutions around 1366 x 768 but we urge you to go for 1080p
(1920 x 1080) if at all possible. It makes for a sharper image and is far more practical for general
computing tasks.

If you’re looking at ultrabook which doesn’t appear to offer 1080p, shop around, it’s frequently an
optional extra and there are systems as small as 11 or 13 inches with these HD displays now.

The downside is that higher resolution means more strain on the graphics card, but this is an
acceptable trade-off in our opinion. Even if you have to tone down some extra settings the gaming
image quality can still remain high thanks to the superior screen resolution.

Storage and connectivity

Ultrabooks are meant to be as thin as possible and while that doesn’t mean you’ll be missing out on
USB and network ports of Wi-Fi support (these are always included) there are two important things
to note.

First is that ultrabooks do not usually come with optical disc drives so you can’t install software from
CD/DVD. This matters a lot less for gamers now that Steam, GOG.com and other digital download
services are so popular, just be prepared to have to download all your games.

It’s also common for ultrabooks to use Solid State Drives (SSD). They’re more durable than normal
hard disks and incredibly fast, but capacity is much lower. 128GB is common, 256GB or more can get
expensive.

Since you can’t stuff the drive with loads of files or games you may want to have a high capacity flash
drive or portable hard disk to hand for storing other data, and frequently uninstall games to make
way for new releases.

Is an ultrabook right for you?

Pros:

Lightweight and portable

Long battery life

Models with discrete graphics are readily available

Cons:

Graphics slower than either a desktop PC or full size gaming laptop

Limited choice of displays and graphics hardware

Can be expensive

So, should gamers consider buying an ultrabook? Absolutely. The extreme portability they offer is
not to be ignored so they’re brilliant for students and commuters. But as we mentioned portable
gaming is all about compromising. If a large part of your enjoyment comes from seeing games at
ultra-high detail and resolution the need to fiddle with settings to get an acceptable framerate on an
ultrabook might be a step too far.

Previous

After two days on my own I began to wonder if Rolph had made the best decision. I was living purely off of squirrel and lizard. It was hard work finding the meat and then cooking it. Cooking it meant getting a fire burning hot enough to cook. Again hard.

That first day I’d ridden till I couldn’t hear gunshots. That was past the mountains too. Then I stopped and let Bessie get some rest, and to give my legs some rest. My ridding training hadn’t prepared me to ride as hard and long as this.

The second day after little sleep I woke to find that most of the rations were gone. Stolen in the night by some creature. That scared me. Something could creep up at night and steal from under my nose. If that could happen, well I was as useless as a rock in sleep here in the open. ‘Cept worse, rocks can’t get there throats slit.

I made little forward progress that day. Spent most the day tying traps and finding wood for fires. It was a slow process. Afterwords I was still hungry. That night I didn’t sleep any better.

The third day I knew I had to find water. Bessie was making by on sips from my water and from the water she got from eating. Now my water was almost empty.

I continued south the way Rolph had said was the Sevier River. I kept thinking I was hearing the rush of water but it was just the wind playing tricks on my mind.

While ridding my mind tried to put together specific scenes with Rolph in it. I had to assure myself they were wrong. They were there certainly, except there was always something off. I could never remember what I was wearing. Plus it seemed to me in these memories we were doing things that Rolph would never do. Rolph didn’t go into town and say hello to everyone he walked by. Did he?

I had to stop thinking about it eventually. Too distracting I decided. Needed to focus on finding water. My skin was empty now, and I knew my time was running out.

It was dusk and I knew I would have to sleep soon. I wouldn’t have any luck in the dark. Just the thought of the dark in my mind brought my hands instinctively to my jade necklace. The cool smooth touch reassured me like it always did. It always did.

Bessie stopped then and I realized my eyes were closed. I opened them and reached down to pat Bessie’s head.

“There there girl, keep going. I need you to keep going.” I tried to remove the panic from my voice. Hopefully horses just can’t tell if your panicked.

Bessie didn’t move instead her head tilted to the side, then swung around scanning the area. Now my panic grew to a fear, shallow in my chest. What if Bessie saw something out there. A shadow, a Confederate. Heck, even a Union would take me off my course. I hoped it was just a deer.

Just to be safe I reached into the pack behind me making sure I kept my eyes on the sparse foliage around me. I felt for my revolver and hoped I wouldn’t have to use it.

Then a hand grabbed mine, twisted it and flipped me off Bessie. I landed with a loud and equally painful thud, then felt a boot holding me down.

The blood in my veins was threatening to burst out, and my heart was as loud as I could remember it ever being. A gun, my gun I saw was now pointed at my head.

“Get up,” said Lady Maldone. She looked the same. Her hair was down, and she was dirty like she’d been lying in the dirt for hours. Maybe she had, it would suit her.

A rage boiled up inside me at the sight of her. But at what? What had she done but killed a boy. In fact I should be happy because it sent me home. So why were my eyes boiling over with tears at the mere sight of her, the mere sound of her voice.

“Did you hear me? Get up!”

This time I did as I was told, but I had to prod her boot off my stomach first. The gun was still pointed at my head.

“Do you know who I am?” she asked. She didn’t look happy with what she was doing.

Bessie bolted, up and ran. I wish I had the courage to. Then Maldone turned her gun from me for an instant and shot. The ringing in my ears I’d heard before, in Tommy Zinderman’s ears. I dropped to my knees and clasped my hands around my ears. I heard something fall, crash into the ground. Then another shot. Make it stop. It was the only thing I could think.

A full three minutes later, maybe more I got up looked around me. I saw Bessie’s body lying limp next to a vine covered tree. I looked away quickly.

“Why didn’t you let her go.” I said quietly I didn’t expect an answer, not really.

“She makes too much noise.” She didn’t sound to sure of herself.

“She,” I started, “and you think shooting her was quiet?”

“She startled me okay? Now look here.” I looked. The gun was pointed at me. “Do you know who I am?”

“You killed Tom. You’re a confederate.”

“Ah. So that was you. Good then you know me as Maldone, yes?” I nodded. What did she mean ?

“Then you know I killed your parents.” I was shocked. Too shocked for words.

“Rolph, you killed him.”

Now it was her turn to be surprised. I could see questions forming in her expression.

“Rolph. Rolph isn’t your father. Maxwell Tills. Ring a bell?”

It did somewhere. My heart ached, it felt like a weight had been dropped on it, and it was struggling to hold it up.

“I killed your mother too. That house you were staying in, in Salt Lake City.”

“You killed Mrs. Darby? She ain’t my mom.” It gave me some satisfaction knowing she’d made a mistake.

“Ah, well. How’s it feel being all alone the shadows circling you day and night waiting for their moment. And now your father is dead, despite the fact that you seem to have shoved the memory out of mind. You know somethings wrong. You know it’s only a matter of time before the shadows take you, or you let them. You can feel a hole in your heart. Don’t deny it.”

I interjected, “Why did you take the cure?”

She looked taken aback. “My you are full of surprises aren’t you. Did you figure that out on your own?” She paused. “Oh you wanted an answer. Maybe it’s as simple as: I didn’t want you to be cured.”

“Why! Why are you doing all of these terrible things to me?”

“You don’t realize it now but I’m making you stronger. Did Rolph tell you about the story of John and Maria? Maria died, and her body wandered the world. Her mind was stuck. It could not move it could not function. For years, yes years. She though it was never going to end.”

“You’re Maria,” I said. I had known it. She looked into my eyes.

“I’m Maldone, I gave up on Maria on long time ago. Maria finally woke up though. She was in her body. Do you know where I was?

“I was in the middle of a town, bodies all around me. Smoke in the air. The town was on fire and blood covered my body. I was holding a knife in my hand with fresh blood lining it. I could taste blood in my mouth. I was in a body I didn’t recognize. Ah, but it’s not what you think. It was Maria’s body, but like I said it had been years. My chest had risen, my hips widened. My hair was long and unkept. Everything was longer.

“I walked out of that town, the sole survivor. I questioned everything, and got no answers. Everywhere I went I was feared, though I couldn’t speak to anyone. I’d never learned anything but simple Italian, and I couldn’t even remember that. Didn’t matter, I wasn’t in Italy any more. I found my way back of course and found someone I did remember. He didn’t want to see me, but as you can see I learned to be very persuasive.” She said waving the gun around in the air.

“I learned enough Italian to get by. This man, Vincent, told me my father was in America now. I’d already put together that he was the reason I was back. The reason I was living in this hell. I made my way to America easily enough. I made no friends, but I didn’t need to. You see being a host to a shadow…does something to you. I could see them like no one else could, I could hunt them like no one else. The power they give you is, incredible.

“I’ve spent the last ten years hunting shadows. But I’ve learned that I am not enough. I’m the only thing standing in the way of the shadows and this world.”

“Thats not true!” I yell. “Rolph and your father hunt shadows.”

“Ah, is that what they call it? They ward shadows off, yes. Buy themselves time as they waste away under their curses, but have they ever killed a shadow? No. The best they can do is slit their own throats before the shadows consume then. No. Only I can deal with them with a degree of finality. But I figured why not get a partner. I’ve examined what happened to me: the circumstances, the pieces that form my torture. I’ve spent years waiting for the perfect candidate. It’s you Anne-Louise Tills.”

What she was planning to do finally sunk in. Why she’d killed my father, why I was here now. She’d been waiting for me, I knew.

“Now be a good girl and tell me what Rolph gave you as your Well.”

I looked at her blankly.

“He gave you something to keep the shadows away.”

I couldn’t help it my eyes flickered to my necklace. Then I closed them. I couldn’t believe what I’d just done.

“Take it off,” she said. I kept my eyes closed, and stood there.

“Take it off, or I will make you.” The words seeped like venom out of her.

Slowly my fingers wrapped themselves around the smooth curves of my necklace. I carefully lifted it off my head, but I never broke eye contact with my captor.

If you enjoyed this installment of Mark of the Shadow please leave a review at the Web Fiction Guide or Tell Your Friends.

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We continue our fight through starman after starman after super-starman.

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What is becoming an apparent theme in Hosoda’s work is his merging of a fantastic element in an otherwise normal setting. In Summer Wars we are presented with the world of Oz, a cyberworld in which everyone in the world interacts similarly to the Oasis in Ready Player One. It has become such a mainstay of the world that even the trafficking system is connected for some reason.

Enter our protagonist, Kenji who works with his friend doing work as a moderator in Oz. After we are introduced to the world he is asked to go with Natsuki Shinohara to a family gathering to celebrate her grandmothers 90th birthday. Natsuki doesn’t mention why she wants him to come along, and instead uses her popularity to win him over.

This is the American cover. LOOK AT THAT PLANE GUY!

Once there Kenji learns that he is supposed to be Natsuki’s boyfriend because she promised her grandmother that she would get to see her get a boyfriend. Then we are introduced to the large and colorful Shinohara family. I won’t go into all the characters because there are a ton, but most of them boil down to a few traits. That is one of the women you will know because she spends her time glued to her son’s baseball games on TV fretting over every play. Or the uncle who yells about the old samurai days of the Shinohara clan. It goes on. Suffice it to say the film does not suffer because the characters are rather 1 note. In fact it would only drag the film down to try and explore all of the characters.

That night Kenji, uncomfortable with what he has gotten himself into, can’t sleep and when he receives a  text with a number puzzle he decides to solve it. Because Kenji is a math wiz – one of the best in the country.

They are super exited to cast their American Idol votes!

When he wakes up in the morning Kenji finds his name on the news as the boy who hacked Oz. Scrambling for answers he goes to the only person in the house with a computer, who happens to be the world renown Oz player Kazuma. Together they start to figure out that Oz was hacked by some program and that it is controlling a bunch of users accounts, including Kenji’s.

We learn that the Shinohara family is connected to the virus, called Love Machine, because one of them, the outcast Wabusike, developed the program for the US army.

This is Oz. There’s some digital animation going on in Oz.

The virus was supposed to be a test however it gets out of control, becoming super powerful and creating chaos by controlling any technology it can. Kenji and the Shinohara family have to work together to stop Love Machine before he does too much damage.

Visually it has the same cartoonish flat, eye pleasing look as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. And it gives Oz its own unique outline as if having rabbits and crazy airplane thingies wasn’t enough to tip you off that Oz is different.

The film brings up an important message in today’s technology driven world. That is we rely on it too much, because you never know when the system could all fall down.

These fight scenes remind me of the opening to the Digimon movie. Which is fine cause that was the best part of that movie.

The Bottom Line: Kids will love this film. It has some good action scenes, and enough laughs to keep kids entertained throughout. There was a few too many anime-isms for my taste, but the story was solid, with a geeky character as the lead. Some of the characters fall flat for me. As a whole the films team work and family themes work and even though I think kids will like it the best, I think adults will like this film as well. It is not a great film. But its good.

Previous

I awoke next morning to the sweet smell of grass, and the light touch of dew on my finger tips. The sun was low but bright, and I heard a bird singing as I rose.

Rolph was up already. I made my way back to the house and breathed in deeply. Rolph was inside staring at the golden orb. It was sitting neatly next to its counterpart on top of Cezary’s dresser. Cezary had a pot of tea set out and was cooking a batch of greens for breakfast. It’s what he had.

“Hello Father,” I said greeting Rolph. He turned with a look of shock, but there was a slight smile in his eyes. I smiled back and took a seat in Cezary’s creaky old chair.

Cezary walked out with two steaming plates and said, “did you change your mind? I thought you said he wasn’t your father.”

“Never said that,” I said lifting a forkfull of food to my mouth.

“Anne…Tell me what happened again, when you held the golden orb,” said Rolph.

My stomach grew cold as I thought about it. The death, the sound, come to think of it the lack of sound is what got me. I felt like something was missing though. I couldn’t even think of what it could be, just somethin wasn’t feeling right.

“Well, like I told you I was in a battle. Some people died. I don’t really wana talk much about it. I ended up getting shot and then I was back here.”

Rolph had stopped eating. “Who, who died Anne? Think very hard.”

“I don’t know I didn’t even learn some of their names. Don’tcha think it’s better that way?”

“Anne,” said Rolph standing his tone stern, “what did you do last night?”

I was scared, “What, I just, I just went to bed, I couldn’t sleep for a while so I layed awake but…but I swear I didn’t do nothin.” What could I have done?
Rolph just got up and ran his hand through his hair. I stopped eating too. Cezary came out with his plate and looked at the scene in bewilderment.

Then Rolph left. I watched him go straight outside. He was back a minute later with his bag. He dumped the contents onto the floor, small bags and boxes tumbling. He dug through the pile looking for a few specific things.

He raised a satchel of leaves, Eucalyptus. “Some of it’s missing,” he said. His face was red with rage, I’d never seen him this angry. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”

“Daddy,” I began but I couldn’t finish.

“No, you listen here. You have a father. A father you love very much, but he isn’t me.”

“You’re scarring me, don’t say that,” I said. The day had started out so nice. Now my father was telling me, telling me my whole life was wrong.

“Perhaps you should slow down,” said Cezary.

“No!” he yelled at Cezary. “You are not a part of this!” He took a breath. “I’m sorry Cezary, you are not a part of this. Anne, your father…your real father is dead.”

I was shaking my head and covering my ears. It wasn’t true, none of it. None of it. Rolphs hands came down and pushed my hands off my red hot ears.

“You, you couldn’t stand it. I told you to not do anything rash, but I should have known better. I should have known better than to teach you herbs.” Rolph grabbed my face and held it still. “Listen, you made a mistake. Your memories are still in there. I just need you to reach for them. Look for your father, look for those memories.”

“But I don’t want to remember!” I shouted. “I want things to just be good and happy like they were!”

“Anne…”

“No, you listen. You may not want to be my father anymore, and, and so then don’t! Just leave, Cezary will take care of me. I don’t need you. You trying to tell me something that ain’t true.” I was breathing hard. My mouth ached, and I had to stop.

Cezary came to me, kneeled next to me. “You need to listen to Rolph honney. He’s right, I’ve listened to the way you talked about your father. Rolph isn’t that man, I’m not that man, but he’s in there,” Cezary pointed to my chest. “He’s in there, and he always will be.”

“These things take time,” said Rolph.

I looked up at them. They seemed sincere enough. There eyes looked it, but it couldn’t be true. I wouldn’t let it be.

“If I loved him so much, then why did I make myself forget him?” I asked as much to myself as them.

It was Cezary who answered. “The more you love someone the harder it is to lose them. Remember what I told you of my sister. At least you have not harmed anyone.”

I did remember his story. I could tell even then that it had pained him to remember. “Are you glad that you remember her?”

He was slow to answer. “The story I recounted to you was painful. But the pain and sorrow was only a small time of my life. I loved my sister for over twenty years. I would not, could not give that up if I was made to. That is why I believe Rolph when he says that indeed you do remember your father you just have to search for it. The kind of love that we feel, it doesn’t disapear. Not overnight.”

This was all too much. My brain was turning so hard I was afraid it would overheat. Both these men were expecting so much of me so fast. I just picked up my fork and started eating. This would go away. It had to.

The forest was alive with gunfire. Shots echoed inbetween branches and the birds refused to sing. Rolph was loading Bessie up wth our packs.

“This isn’t just going to go away. No matter what happens when you leave this cabin. You must remember, you must remember who your father was, and what he meant to you.”

He picked me up and put me on the horse. It was strange, I had a memory of him doing that so many times over the years. I didn’t understand how that couldn’t have happened. Rolph handed me a knife.

“I know you never got to practice with your gun,” he said and he handed me the Adams revolver. “There are more bullets in the bags.”

“What about Cezary?”

“I’m going to help him get out of here. Your smart, I’ve tought you enough to let you go on your own.” He smiled, “against my better judgment. Go south to the Sevier River. First river you’ll come across. Meet us there.”

“How will I make it?” I asked realizing for the first time that I might have to use the skills he’d taught.

“Bessie has food supplies, I taught you some traps, use them. I have faith in you. Whatever you do, don’t trust anyone and don’t take off your necklace.”

With that Rolph slapped Bessies’ behind and we were off.

If you enjoyed this installment of Mark of the Shadow please leave a review at the Web Fiction Guide or Tell Your Friends.

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This episode we travel to some alternate dimension or something. I’m not really clear. But we do get to the bottom of that “fuzzy pickles” man. ITS A CONSPIRACY!

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The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a charming story in the vain of Groundhogs Day, in that the movie takes place over a few days, that are repeated again and again with different results.

Our hero Makato, who is effortlessly cute and charming, wakes up late on “nice day” and the rest of her day things go horribly wrong for her. Her day ends with her crashing headlong into a train as the breaks on her bike were dysfunctional. Luckily for her, she somehow gained the ability to “time leap”. She wakes up that morning again and is able to avoid all of the problems of her previous day.

The film goes on like that. Makato starts using her ability to time leap for pleasure and convenience. But as the film goes on she learns that her actions have consequences on those around her. Sounds like Groundhogs Day doesn’t it? Well it differs in that Makato is not “stuck”; all the time travel is from her own free will, and in that the primary setting is Makato’s high school. But like Groundhogs Day there are a lot of funny moments because of the time travel.

Time travel is the gimmick, but it is not the heart of this movie. The film is about Makato growing up. She must learn about others feelings, and her own. Makato’s two best friends are her constant companions, and the film spends a large amount of time exploring the ups and downs of their relationships. At its core you have a high school movie. But it is full of awesome moments, and relatable characters. In other words there aren’t wacky Japan-isms like jaws flung open or bloody noses. This is a good film for people who don’t usually watch anime.

She must literally leap with strong momentum to time travel.

Visually the film is very impressive. The animation is top notch, and the characters have clean memorable designs. The film is mostly traditional, but the time travel scenes are digitally animated.

The english version is great. It is one of the best dub’s I have seen(although not an expert), and the translation from what I could gather was the same for subtitles. Therefor I would recommend watching the english version.

The music deserves a special mention. It has a great score. It is mainly piano, although there are strings and another few instruments occasionally.  The music is jaunty when it needs to be, and haunting when it needs to be. Pitch perfect.

The Bottom Line: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is more than the sum of its parts. It has wonderful style. The characters are all great. It is just a fun movie. Personally I think it is a better film than Groundhogs Day and that it is a much watch if you are a fan of a fun time. And again if you are not an anime fan I think this would be a great place to get your feet wet. It’s very western in sensibility and the production values are great.

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Well a few days ago the banners I ordered arrived.  They are printed on vinyl and seem pretty resistant to creasing.

The ordering process was pretty simple. You upload an image for your design, or choose from some pre-made options. Now I will say I had some problems with their uploader. Sometimes I was simply unable to press the upload button. However with a little perseverance I was able to get my design uploaded just like I wanted.

For comparisons sake I will provide the original images that I uploaded. Click for larger versions.

I ordered 2, 2×2 foot banners which are just under $10. Upon placing my order, the shipment arrived very quickly.

This one turned awesome!

Here is a shot to show you the quality of the printing up close. My hand is for comparison.

Again, that one turned out perfect. On this one I trimmed and finished. That added about 7 bucks to the order. If you are planning to hang the banner you get – I would recommend getting it finished, as it is all ready with sturdy metal rings for hanging. However it does cut off the VERY edge of the image, so if you need to keep 100% of the image, I would not recommend it.

The second banner is the map and logo for Dungeons and Dotes. It is a map made with Hexographer.

As you can see there is a bit of white space left around the edges on the unfinished banners.

Most of the text turned out fine, but the small text is blurry.

And some of the text is just very hard to read. It is still legible though.

I also learned through papers and pencils that you can use wet erase markers on them. So if you want to add something to your map you can do so post printing. You can also just print a grid and use it as a battle map. You could make very specific battle maps with Banners on the Cheap, however if you just want a regular old battle map with hexes and squares I would still recommend chessex’s battle maps.

I’m sure you can think of more creative uses(a kingdom’s flag?) for Banners on the Cheap.

The price is good, and the service is quality as long as small text is not involved. Thumbs up in da air.

Me: like anyone from the batman movies right?

Them: with the possible exception of Michael Caine

Me: what? Why wouldn’t you include him. He is one of the most attractive men in the series! #notevenjoking

Them: Ummmmmm….no.

Me: Guess I’ll just have to make my own list then.

So here we are. Get Geek’s list of the hottest men around. There is a theme here, see if you can catch it! I will do my best to explain why these men are so attractive, but forgive me if I’m not super descriptive as I do not spend time studying the male figure for it’s intricacies.

I was in Titanic, bitches!

Martin Jarvis. Yep, he was in the Titanic, and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But just look at that silver hair. That jaw line. The way he wears his shirt all the way buttoned up. Definition of smokin’.

I’m Jim Paddock!

Jim Paddock. You may know him from The Prestige or like one episode of Lost, and one episode of Dollhouse. But you do know him. Everyone does, I’m sure. Cause how could you forget that face.

Dude I have no idea…

Someone need a navel criminal investigation solved?

David McCallum. You know him from NCIS, and if you are super old then The Man from U.N.C.L.E. And yes he is old, but he was a spry looking guy in his early days. He looks sort of like Aaron Eckhart but more boyish…

Cheer up mate, you made it on the list!

Surprisingly Still Alive

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. He was around before color TV – and he’s still around! Now if that tells you one thing, it is that Zimbalist has vigor if nothing else. As far as handsomness goes he looks similar to Chris Reeve. Straight jaw, confidant stand, the whole package(though you don’t want to see his package now days).

I’m FBI. You don’t need to see it on my badge, it’s all in the face.

Not Alive

Alan Napier. Listen I’m not condoning Necrophilia, but if you were going to go for it. Why not Alan Napier? His eyebrow – mustache – glasses combination is just fantastic and I’d be willing to bet that they were reasonably preserved. So if you’re into nibbling facial hair this could be the perfect opportunity for you.

I think there is a place where you can buy stand ups that look like this. Put it next to your door…or your bed.

Michael Gough. You may know him from such hits as The Diamond Brothers, or The Little Vampire. Again acting on your feelings towards Gough would result in necrophilia which I still do not condone. However I think it would be cool just to have him around to stare at people.

Look at dem brows!

The Man we need, not the Man we Deserve

Michael Caine. Dude is smoking! He’s in like every Nolan movie and he is Ebeneezer Muther****ing Scrooge. Not only is he one bad ass actor, he is so gorgeous it really can not be overstated. What is it about him that is so good looking? I don’t think it’s really for me to say. You have to find it in yourself. Only then will you understand.

Michael Caine will fuck you up man.

Did you discover the connection? Were you disappointed? Yes it’s a stupid and tenuous connection, but who would not have an 8-way(is that a thing?) with these seven men if given the chance in some alternate universe where they were all still alive/ not dying before our eyes? Looking for a more serious list of hot men? Please check out the Good Girls Gone Geek who know how to do this thing right.

Previous

I awoke in midday. There was something wrong but I couldn’t put my finger on it. There was a smell in the air, like something that’s been sitting out too long. I squirmed under the bedsheets.

Bedsheets.

I opened my eyes and realized where I was. I was home. Me again, and never happier that I was myself. Then I remembered what I’d seen. I knew what had happened wasn’t a dream. It was too long, too vivid. Whenever I dream’t I was lucky if I could remember half of it. This…this thing, well, I remembered every moment. Every breath I took is as clear to me as the waking world.

Things seemed the same. I was in Cezary’s only bed. There was a chair next to the bed and on the rotting nightstand there was a cup of hot tea. I picked it up and slid out of bed. Ugh, the smell! I was wearing the clothes I’d been wearing last time I was, me. I’d only been gone what, five days? I tripped on somethin’ and fell breaking the cup and spilling hot water everywhere. It made a loud crash and I yelped. My hand was red hot, scalded by the water. I stood and rushed out of the house only to run into a gun pointed my way.

It was Rolph. When I stopped he lowered the gun. I stood there for a second more, then ran off to the stream to cool my hand.

Ahhh. I let out a sigh. The water was refreshing, and the sound was music to my ears. I remembered how horrible it had been not to hear anything.

“How do you feel?” said Rolph. He was standing over me.

I looked up at him. “I’d like to wash off.” My voice was quiet, and hoarse. My throat felt the way it feels after ya throw up.

Rolph nodded but said, “No. Come on, you must eat first. You must be starving.”

I was a hungry now that he mentioned it, but I felt that the stream would feel better than a bowl of soup right now. Rolph was walking away back to the cabin expecting me to follow. I didn’t.

Instead I stripped down and sat in the middle of the stream. I splashed water over myself making sure no spot was left soiled.

This was where I learned how to work herbs. I saw Rolph’s tree big and strong already as tall as me. Then I noticed two other tree’s. They were small, only about a foot, but they were mine. I knew immediately. My magic had worked. I giggled inside. I’d thought I needed that feeling, that great feeling to work magic, but I didn’t. I hadn’t felt it then, so why would I need it ever? That mean’s that Rolph’s three rules were only more of guidelines. Yes. Of course my spell didn’t work quite as intended but it ended up better in the long run. Yep, my magic had worked better than Rolph’s! Two tree’s for the price of one.

My mind wandered back to the battle, as I closed my eyes.

The water was cold. At least, I knew it should be cold, but I could barely feel it on my skin. When I felt clean I let my head drop into the stream face first, eyes closed.

And I kept it there.

It was pleasant. This was the nicest I’d felt in a long time. My lungs crumpled in my chest, and I heard a pounding in my ears. I could stay like this forever. And I would have.

Arms wrapped around me, pulling me out. I screamed and kicked and tore and bit at them. How dare they take me out of this tranquility. I felt skin under my nails and blood on my hands before the arms pinned me against a warm body, overwhelmingly warm. I calmed, my legs stopped kicking and I let my cries out. Rolph shushed me, and I realized that it’s his blood on my hands. I go limp.

He takes me back and sets me on Cezary’s one rug. It’s brown and coarse. I look shamefully into his eyes as he brushed back my wet hair.

“Tell me.” It’s all he has to say. I’m crying again, and that’s that.

Rolph left me there, and then I cried for an hour, two, four more. Cezary came by and cleaned up the spill. He put his hand on my shoulder and told me how much he was happy to see me again. He weren’t sure I would ever wake up.

When the tears stopped coming I realized I was still naked. A blanket had been put over me. My clothes were bunched in a pile by my feet. I slipped on my clothes and draped the blanket around my shoulders. Then I sat on a wooden chair, it’s old frame creaking under my weight. I could feel myself slipping, slipping from me. But I held on because I didn’t want to lose myself again. I couldn’t lose myself again. If it happened again I knew nothing would bring me back. I sat there until it was dark outside. No one came in or out of the house. Pure silence ruled.

I dropped the blanket and went outside. I still wasn’t hungry. Rolph was out on the ground lying and looking up at the heavens. I walked over and stood next to him. It took him a while to notice me, but he stood up when he did.

I looked up at him, “I’ve been holding back. The training, I’ve been holding back.”

“What are you talking about? Something happened… we weren’t sure you were coming back. You need to talk about it.”

I continued as if he hadn’t said a thing, “I’m sorry, it won’t happen any longer.”

“And why…why is that?” he asked exhausted. I noticed for the first time, the rings around Rolph’s bloodshot eyes. His hair was matted down and the mark on his face burned with a previously unnoticed luminescence.

“I have nothing to go back to. This is my life now,” I said. I wondered how long I’d known. I always had hope that after the war I would go home with Daddy and everything would go back to the way it was. But now I knew that there was no going back. There never would be.

“You need to eat, your not thinking,” said Rolph. Now I noticed the wounds covering his arms, his chest, his face. I looked away.

“Did, did I do that to you?”

“I don’t blame you. Whatever happened, happened. I just want you to feel better.”

“I ain’t ever gona feel better,” I said quickly.

“Come on.” Rolph took my hand and lead me back inside. He gave me a thick piece of bread with molasses spread on top.

“How. How do I forget?” I asked. “There must be somethin’ you can do to help me forget!”

“What is it! I can’t help you if you don’t tell me!”

I took a deep breath and sat down with the bread. “My Daddy’s dead.”

Rolph just stared at me as he lowered himself to the ground. He reached out his hand and stroked my arm. “Are you sure. You were asleep for a couple weeks-“

I jerked my arm away. I felt like the less anyone touched me the better they’d be.“-couple weeks? I was only out five days!”

“No, no Anne, you were gone for a long time. Are you sure it weren’t just a bad dream honey?”

“Course I’m sure. So can you help me forget or what.”

“Anne in my experience. You need to face your problems, not hide from them. Better take them on your own terms, lest they find you when you’re at your weakest. Now please tell me what happened.”

I tried to explain. I explained waking inside another person’s body on the train. The long march, my failed escape and the battle. The farther I went the more my words lost their meaning, the more I lost track of my own thoughts. I was an engine with no coal.

Rolph’s face was stone cold the whole time. He nodded at points, helped me find words, but he never asked questions, never doubted me.

When I was finished he said, “And you’re sure it was your father?” I nodded. I was surprisingly calm. “It’s good that you told me what happened. Listen we are going to stay here for as long as we can. We’ll try to find a cure for you when this is out of mind.”

“Out of mind?”

“Right. Enough time passes and the pain will fade. Promise.” Rolph picked up the blanket and put it around my shoulders. I pushed my plate away from me. “Now you promise me somethin. You promise me that you won’t do anything rash, like back at the stream. I know right now the sun don’t seem to shine, but when the sun goes down, it’s only a matter of time ‘fore it comes back up again. It does, and I want you to be there when it does.”

I nodded. “You know the worst part Rolph?” He looked at me gravely. “One step, one misstep. If I hadn’t a tripped I coulda saved him. Daddy’d still be alive.” I couldn’t stop the tears. I slumped down to the floor.

“You don’t know that. I’m sleeping outside OK? Join me when you’re ready.”

I nodded and buried my head in my knees.

I was lying awake out under a massive oak. Rolph was besides me. I tried to sleep, but sleep didn’t want me. Every time I closed my eyes images, flashes would remind me of what I’d lost. I was afraid to close my eyes anymore. Rolph had said the pain would go away. It only felt worse. What was it he said? Out of mind. Yes, I needed to put these thoughts out of mind. So I waited. Hours I waited. Cezary had come out and offered his bed to me. I declined.

When I was sure no one was awake I made my move. Rolph’s pack was by his side when he slept, always. I had to be quiet, but I was small and determined, so I edged it away from him bit by bit. Then when the prize was mine I crawled away with it and opened it. Four small boxes came tumbling out. I waited to see if the sound woke anyone then I continued. A knife, a box of ammo, another knife. I took them all out. Where was it? Then I found it. Rolph’s book.

If there was anything that could help me, it was in there. I looked through it carefully turning each page slowly. I knew if Rolph found me he wouldn’t trust me with magic again. Spells to light, and change, To warp and make. Then I found it. A spell of destruction. There were notes on how to target memories. It was two words. Rolph never mentioned that there could be two words. I could manage.

I found the leaves. Eucalyptus and Oak bark. I closed my eyes, and the image of my dead father flashed into my brain. I opened them quickly. I couldn’t close them. I had to get this over with. Hakai Suru. Hakai Suru. Hakai Suru. The words spun round in my brain. All I had to do was think about what I wanted to forget. I could do that.

“Hakae Suru,” I said.

I was forgetting something. But what? Ah, the herbs. But what did I do with them. There was no tree to make grow to sprinkle them on…

I shoved the leaves and bark in my mouth and made myself chew and swallow. Forget, I kept thinking, forget, forget, forget. The previous day’s events wound through my mind. I closed my eyes willing myself to bring back those gut wrenching memories. It was easy knowing I’d never have to think of them again.

Then I went back to Rolph with his bag, placing it back where it belonged and waited. It’s all I could do.

If you enjoyed this installment of Mark of the Shadow please leave a review at the Web Fiction Guide or Tell Your Friends.

Next

This episode we travel around. And uh miss where we are supposed to go a couple of times. I hate myself.

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Stephen King’s IT, is a story of seven friends who are tormented (along with their home, small town Derry, ME) by a creature most often seen as a clown that shape shifts to it’s victims worst fear. IT is a basically perfect book, with rich and vivid characters, mind numbingly scary writing, and a simple elegance that can only be found in books by Stephen King. The book is a whopping 1090 pages so it might seem like a daunting task to read, but once you get started you’ll wish it was twice as long.

Characters Probably More Real than People You Know

One of most evident traits of IT is the vividness of it’s many characters. All though the 1000+ pages takes a long time to read, with out them you wouldn’t get the character development that is so prominent in this book. All though most of the characters are slightly common archetypes, they are genuine ones that you more than likely know. There’s Bill, the leader, the one with charisma, the one that for whatever reason you respect and honor so much that you would die for him. There’s Richie, the funny guy who has a large array of voices, but never seems to shut up. There’s Eddie, the overly cautious one who had an overprotective mom and relies on medicinine. Etc. Etc. Etc.

By the end of the novel, these characters will feel so real to you, that they WILL be real to you. You will care about them just as if they were real people.

“Balls-to-the-Wall, Keep-the-Lights-on Horror”

Before reading this I was under the ridiculous pretense that a book couldn’t scare me. “Words? HA. I laugh in the face of words. HA.” But oh was I wrong. Here is a choice passage from “Derry: The Second Interlude”

This book is scary. This book is terrifying. A great many times I have let out a little scream and jumped just cause someone knocked on my door while I was reading. But don’t get me wrong, those who say Stephen King is JUST a horror writer are dead wrong. They are

Perfect Introduction to the God that is Stephen King

Complete idiots. Complete idiots are people who deny the fact the Stephen King is an author capable of so much that it could make your head spin. This is obvious in the fact that Stephen King has written FIFTY TWO NOVELS! THAT’S 52! 5! 2! I haven’t even written that many pages!

All though not all of his books are masterpieces, even at his lowest point he’s still extraordinary. After reading IT, the ones I would recommend are the following:

The Stand

The Stand is a story of the apocalypse told in three parts, each part growing increasingly more crazy than the last. It is similar to IT in that it is very large, and densely populated with extremely real characters. Many consider it to be the best King novel, and that’s why it’s at the top of this list.

The Green Mile

Stephen King himself has said that he writes two different kinds of novels: Large ones, which are like you’re viewing the story from a telescope, and small ones which are extreme close ups, like looking through a microscope. This one (unlike  IT and The Stand) is the latter. The Green Mile is a story of a Jail and it’s inhabitants, and all though it is mainly drama, it has supernatural elements. Along with the story itself, it was released as a serial novel, meaning about 100 pages were released at a time, over the span of a few months, which makes it especially fun to read.

The Dark Tower Series

Stephen King’s self described Magnum Opus is a series somewhere between Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, and Western. It is the tale of a Gunslinger and his trek towards the titular Dark Tower, and the people he meets along the way. Not only is this simply one of the best stephen King stories, but it has 8 installments, so you’ll have plenty to read.

IT is a truly magnificent novel, and is easily one of my favorites. I can’t recommend this book enough, and that’s why I give it 5/5.

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This book is amazing. Pretty slow start, but then so was my last 5 star book. Once you’re about 70 pages in it gets good. Then it gets real good. Then it gets so good I wanted to tear my hair out because the characters were so complex, and the story so rich with themes and emotion.

As far as I know there is no plan to adapt Tigana into a film. That’s fine, but I think it would make a great film, or mini-series. So assuming there was to a movie of Tigana(uncomfortable sex scenes removed) who would I cast? Well first of all I will not be covering all the characters as their are more viewpoint characters than a George R.R. Martin Book up in here. But I will try to cover the characters who are most key and with the most “screen time”.

Second, I’m not the best at this so please feel free to tell me why I’m wrong and who should be playing these characters instead.

Finally before we begin I must mention this cast would probably be impossible due to the number of big stars. Oh well, what do I know.

Devin: First let me say it’s not as weird as you would think to read a book with your first name as the main characters. And this may be a let down but I’m going to say: go with an unknown. I couldn’t think of actors who would work in this setting and sing well. So just find someone we haven’t heard of. If you know someone who fits the bill let me know.

Ya that look.

Catriana: Amy Adams. Our female lead. She needs to be fierce and cute and red-headed. All of those things I saw in The Fighter. She might have to work at making sneering faces, but she could totally do it.

Alessan: Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Throw a beard on the guy, put him in some armor. Dude would be a great Alessan. He has the charisma, now they just have to teach him how to play pipes.

Beard: I know there’s some one perfect out there for Beard, I just can’t put my finger on it. Until then I guess Jeremy Renner will do. He’s a hot action star now, and we all know he’s pretty hot with a bow. Now I’m not going to cast teen Beard, but they’d have to do that too.

Sandre: I was looking for someone big, tough, and old. So as I’m watching Breaking Bad right now my mind immediately went to Jonathan Banks, who plays Mike on that show. Now Mike never makes jokes in Breaking Bad, but I think he could pull it off. And it’d be interesting to see that nose in the makeup.

Rovigo: Bryan Cranston. Oh! My Breaking Bad is showing. Cranston has shown that he can play sweet father in Malcolm in the Middle and to some extent in Breaking Bad(though he’s usually lying through his teeth to them). Basically I wanna see Cranston play a good guy in a drama for once.

Just dye that hair black.

Alais: Dakota Fanning. She’s still young, can still act like a mofo and would honestly really look the part.

Alberico: Our asshole of a villain would be played by Hugo Weaving. Slap some makeup on the guy. Maybe it’s trite to cast him as a villain, but whatever he’s good at it. Plus can’t you just picture is eyelid twitching!

Brandin: Micheal Fassbender. He showed us he could play a sympathetic villain in First Class which is exactly what Brandin is. Plus he’s got those looks.

Could not actually find a picture of her without a sexy face. Maybe that’s just her natural state.

Dianora: Charlize Theron. She’s freaking beautiful, and is around the right age. Dianora is my favorite character in the book, her tragedy is grande, and I think Theron could pull it off. And we’d get to see her swim in a loose dress. If that’s not worth making this movie then I don’t know what is.

So that’s it. Was I completely off the mark? Completely on? Please let me know who you would cast in the Tigana film in the comments to below.

Farmville’s Successes and Failures

Farmville alone has amassed monthly game-playing usage exceeding the 44.5 million mark since its inception, according to cNet.com news. There has been a decrease in usage that’s attributable mostly to technical difficulties like the game crashing too often and slow loading on old systems. The game’s ad-heavy nature also doesn’t help. However, there is no indication that social gaming is going away anytime soon.

The maker of Farmville may have posted recent losses but social gaming is still a multi-billion dollar, still-expanding industry. This industry is also giving the computer and game console industries a run for their money.

Online Gambling and Social Media Converges

Enter the online gambling sector – another area that is continuing to grow on a regular basis; like free games from Intercasino.com have been released in the form of Facebook. This convergence of online gambling and social media is expected to be the next big thing.

More Than Sunlight and Fertilizer are Behind Social Gaming’s Growth

Stats don’t lie, and they’re telling us that with each year, more people are using mobile devices than PCs to access the Internet. This is creating a totally new hot market for social games. Developers and manufacturers are creating social versions for their traditional games. Social networking is a very strong commercial driving force, and social gaming is an offshoot or product of this explosion.

Other Social Gaming Platforms

Social gaming is finding other platforms besides Facebook, and spurring new gambling games and apps all around the web. This growth will be aided by the following strong economic realities:

• According to an article in Slate magazine, makers of social games are vowing to enter the lucrative online gambling market in 2013
• We are now seeing the marriage of live sporting events and social games that let fans try to predict what’s coming next. This is a totally new arena
• Third world populations now use mobile devices more than PCs. Social gaming has proven to be an excellent tool for tapping into this huge new market
• We’re seeing the injection of “gamification” into many aspects of our private life, thus creating new uses for computer technology
• Social games have led to a unique form of gaming and are changing the way we engage with the web
• The joining of TubeMogul and TrialPay will inject real-time bidding into social video ads in games, thus further increasing revenue
• Social games are only a small portion of the $7.3 billion “virtual goods” market; this is a relatively new, evolving economic powerhouse
• Social gaming will be even bigger once adapted for the mobile device industry

It’s apparent that the convergence of gaming, social media, and mobile apps is the next phase of digital entertainment. This opens up new doors to opportunities for everything from “edu-tainment” applications and online gambling to new forms of corporate brand engagement. It should be interesting to see what social gaming trends are in store for the remainder of 2012, as well as the endless years to come.

Guest Post By: Bethany Ortiz

Previous

We were lined up. Seemed kind of stupid. Our supplies back behind the line. Then the line broke. Me and four others, including my bearded friend were assigned to protect one o’ them huge guns. A Cannon. Cannon itself was operated by three large individuals who were responsible for carting, and shooting the thing. Course if one of them died, we were expected to take over.

The scene was set; north versus south, union versus confederation. Don’t they mean the same thing? Sorta wished I was fighting shadows. Least then it would be good versus evil. I wasn’t sure those things applied here, now, in Georgia.

The landscape was a rolling forest. The sun was high. The occasional patch of grass, open from vegetation, scattered the countryside. Didn’t get a real good lay of the land. Upon setting out with our cannon, the battle broke out. I’d begun to think of the bastard that had caught me two nights before as The Beard. He was still watching me. I knew I couldn’t run without him picking me off, if someone else didn’t first. That meant I had to take my chances in this fight.

Guns, cannons, screams, it all sort of flows together in the thick of it. Really I couldn’t tell you what happened in that battle. But I do know that it’s where my Daddy died.

“Alright, our scouts tell us the Union is marching down right this way. And when they do, we’ll be ready for them,” came our General. He was a tall man, thin and hard. Looked like a piece of bark. “Lady Maldone here,” he gestured to a woman with a dark brown braid, the rest of her face in shadow from the brimmed hat she wore. “Will be joining us.”

A chorus of laughter from the troops. I didn’t laugh. Her eyes scanning the crowd met mine for a moment. The look lingered longer than was comfortable. She knew something I didn’t.

“She’s a bounty hunter. One of the best, and she loves the South. She’s offering her services free of charge.” She was thin, but looked tense and powerful under her dreadful boyish clothes. I imagined that’s how I looked back at the cabin.

“I’d like some other services from her!” came a call from the mass of troops in which I stood. Lady Maldone pulled a pistol smoothly from her side holster and shot the hat off of the man who’d just spoken. Point taken.

The General laughed this time while the troops were silent. “Please treat the lady with respect so that she will do the same to you.”

Lunch. Rations. That meant dried bread, water and some grains to chew on. Not exactly what you want to remember as your last meal. And that’s what it would be for many of these boys. Maybe me.

I sat on the grass, my head down. No need to make any more friends or enemies. The time for that had passed.

The grains swished around in my mouth. A slave to my tongue, my mind. Then I bit down, crunch and the grains were crushed. How little we think about the things we crush. I suppose it makes it easier to live.

Lost in my thoughts I didn’t notice Maldone sit next to me. She handed me a piece of cheese. I took it warily. Why was she being nice? I took a bite and closed my eyes; cream, luscious cream. I couldn’t help shoving the entire piece into my mouth. When I opened my eyes Maldone was looking at me. So were many, though I gathered that they were looking at her, not me. I could see her face now. It was scarred on the left side, a dark red mark but she was pretty.

I looked at her quizzically.

“Thought you should have something better than stale bread before you go into battle.” She spoke softly, sweetly almost.

“Why.” It sounded dumb, but it was all I could think of.

She stood up looking to the distance and walked away. She didn’t look back.

The cannon fired once. They hadn’t warned me. Ringing in my ears, like nothing I’d ever felt. My head felt light, like I’d been holding my breath too long. Then nothing. I could hear nothing. Looking around I saw carnage. One of the men with me, I didn’t know his name, was lying against a tree, his hands covered in blood. But not his, another man was lying on top of him spewing blood from his mouth and nose. I fell and dropped my gun. My hands were on my ears in an instant. The world was so, different so unsettling without sound. You don’t realize what a comfort it is until it’s gone. It’s gone…

A hand pulled me up. It was Lady Maldone. She was speaking, but I just shook my head. The rest of my body shook as I looked around at the world I wanted to leave behind. I noticed that from my troop only 3 of us were left. Me, The Beard, and a third man who I didn’t remember. She put my gun in my hand and pointed. I followed her hand.

A group, maybe 10 men total rushing through the woods towards our position. The Beard was down on the ground re-loading his gun. I realized I hadn’t fired a single shot. But how long had it been? A few minutes? An hour?

I turned my gun on the group and fired. One man fell, but the group surged forward. I was surprised. I looked down at my gun. I hadn’t thought I would hit anyone. I took a step backwards and tripped on a vine. I tumbled backwards looking up seeing Maldone firing with her twin pistols. She was fast. I crawled back up the hill. Survival instincts were kicking in. If I didn’t want to die I’d have to keep fighting. I knew there was no other way.

Then I saw him. Running from tree to tree trying to find a good vantage spot. A union soldier. It was Daddy. I’d know him anywhere. He’d acquired a limp but it was definitely him. Lady Maldone saw him and was moving towards him. I screamed. This couldn’t be happening, this was all a dream.

I jumped up dropping my gun, and ran at her screaming. My leg got caught on something and I fell face first into the underbrush. I looked back, it was The Beard. He had a strange look in his eye as he yanked me backwards.

“The hell are you doing, you piece of shit!” he growled.

I skided across the ground pain pouring into my body. He was over me now readying a strike. I flipped around so I was on my back and kicked him in the face before he could move. He let go of my ankle; then I saw him spit blood. He lunged at me, and I rolled over. He it hit the ground hard, and I took the opportunity to hit him with my fist as hard as I could. No holding back this time, not an ounce.

I missed. Hit a tree. The knuckles on my right hand broke, freeing rivers of blood and a scream I didn’t know I had in me. The pain faded, it hardly seemed to matter any more. The Beard threw his body at me, and we struggled together on the ground tearing, bitting, kicking, slashing. Finally I was able to throw him off of me.

My body overloaded with adrenaline as I stood up. My calf was tore up and down on my left leg, I didn’t see it – didn’t need to, and I imagine my face looked like it had been to a butcher with a dull knife. I stumbled towards Maldone, but then I saw. It was too late. She had Daddy at gun-point. I yelled, or tried to. She pulled the trigger and it was over.

The adrenaline was failing. Pure rage boiled within me now and I used it as fuel to rush Maldone who stood triumphant over my fathers corpse. She seemed surprised to see me, but not at my reaction. She moved out of the way easily as I blew past her, only able to stop my rampage by falling on my hands and knees. Blood, my blood, Tommy’s blood on my hands, face and legs. My breathing was erratic but strong. I lifted my body with my arms and looked at Maldone. She looked at me with a strange expression on her face. Like she was sorry. Whatever was going on in her head ended with one thought. She raised her right hand with it’s six shooter and pulled the trigger.

If you enjoyed this installment of Mark of the Shadow please leave a review at the Web Fiction Guide or Tell Your Friends.

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We travel to the swamp of poison, and meet up with an old friend…

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Now I bring this up because of the very detailed, thought out and researched article over at awesomedice comparing the Chessex dice to the GameScience dice. They rolled a d20 from both companies 10,000 times! By hand! Now why anyone would do that for realistically a pretty unimportant reason is beyond me, but they did and they put a bunch of their data up on the site for everyone to view.

So what did they find? Well that overall GameScience dice are more “true”, meaning that they are closer to the actual statistical probability than the Chessex dice. This is because of the way Chessex are made to have rounded edges. However the GameScience dice are not perfect as they have a manufacturing issue as well.

So what do I think about it? Eh. Who cares, as people in the comments pointed out it’s going to be a long time before you roll your d20 10,000 times and it’s impossible to tell improbability while playing, so who cares. And we’re not gambling, were telling a story using dice. Who cares if you roll 17 more than 16.

I will probably never(or not for a long time) buy dice again after buying Chessex’s pound of dice. It’s a great deal, and it does come with a pristine set.

The random dice in that set I let anyone use. Anyone who comes over to play uses them, and I even gave away one of the coolest ones to Ezekial. But that set of pristine dice that came with the pound?

No way. You can hear me telling Tim to give them back in one of the upcomming episodes of Dungeons and Dotes. Why is this? Well gamers are a superstitious and cowardly lot, and besides the fact that they look really cool, and that I like to make sure I have at least one of everything, the first time the d20 rolled out of the box it was in it rolled a twenty. Bang. Right out of the gate a critical hit. That’s when I knew, no one else was using that dice, that it is my baby.

Ezekial takes things a little farther than me, because he knows individual dice that serve him well, and individual dice that he will not roll.

So what’s the point of saying all this? Well that’s just it. There is no point. There is no point in worrying about if your dice is statistically more sound than another dice. Not because of the way it was made anyway, that kind of thing should not realistically inform your decision to buy. What should make you not use a dice is if it’s cursed. It’s as simple as that.

Didn’t I say this was a weird topic?

I recently got a Kindle, and due to my being very poor, I have been trying to get as many free (but good) books as I possibly can. The ones I most recommend are listed below.

The Time Machine – H. G. Wells

This was the first book I got, and it is fantastic. Known by most for being the first book to put forward the idea of time travel as we know it today, it is regarded by as a Sci-fi classic. It tells the story of a man (just called the time traveller) who goes to the distant future where the world is entirely different. This book uses some very unique narrarating techniques, and at roughly 100 pages, it’s not a huge task to read it.

Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne

Now I’m sure most of you recognize this from the awful Brendan Frazier movie adaptation, but don’t let any negative feelings about that stop you. It’s an interesting story about people going to the center of the earth, and having some wacky sci-fi adventures. Also it’s Jules Verne so you can’t really go wrong.

2 B R 0 2 B – Kurt Vonnegut

All though this is the shortest story on this list, I still have to recommend it. Kurt Vonnegut is probably on the top of my list of “authors I want to check out” and this is what brought him to that list. Similar to Harrison Bergeron, it’s a dystopian story that takes place in the future where old age, disease, and population control have been conquered.

The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka (Only iBook store)

This book is rather short, but I definitely think it is interesting enough to read. It is about a salesman who wakes up as a human sized cockroach and has to deal with it. On the Kindle store and Nook store it’s about 99 cents, but I would still recommend you get it.

The Invisible Man – H. G. Wells

The second book by H. G. Wells on this list is a story of a scientist who turns himself invisible, but cannot turn himself back. Something interesting about many of these novels is that they are simply a “what if” scenario, and then the characters dealing with the situation. H. G. Wells is a great author, and this is another great read.

So there you go. If you know of any good free books out there please comment below!

Previous

The worst part of wakin’ up was realisin’ that it wasn’t all some strange dream. I’d slept that night next to the boy. He was up at the bang of the gun – and that ain’t a metaphor. Me, I wasn’t so prompt. I rubbed my eyes, put my head in my hands and checked myself. I was still Tom Zinderman. Still in Georgia.

I crawled out of the tent and squinted at the world. The sun was just rising, and the camp was in motion. People scurried around the camp handing things to one another. The closest thing I ever scene to it was a time when Daddy’d pointed out a wasps nest. The little guys buzzing all around collecting little bits to build their nest. Well this time the wasps were destroying their nest.

“Come on,” said the boy I’d slept in the tent with, patting me on the shoulder. He couldn’t be over 16. He walked over to the tent and grabbed a spike in the ground. “Come on!” he said.

I hurried over and helped him take down the tent and fold it up.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Robert,” he said. He didn’t say anything else. We placed the tent in a bag, along with everything needed to tie it down and placed it in a pile.

A man, short and chunky came around handing out pieces of bread. Breakfast, yum. It was stale, and hard to chew. I had to get a swallow of water to even get it down.

When all of the tents were piled up and all the fires put out a second gunshot was fired. Time to move on. The men formed lines and we started walking north. I found Robert and walked next to him. You never knew when a friend could come in handy.

“Robert,” I said softly, “why are we leaving all the tents behind?”

“We’re moving into enemy territory. We only take what we can carry on our backs. So a blanket and a gun.”

I gritted my teeth. I was marching into a fight. A fight I wanted no part in, and a fight that I had no idea how to escape. I needed a plan.

We encountered no enemy that day. It was a relief to one half of me, and a stress to the other. In part I wanted to just get it over with. Maybe if I died here I would wake up me again, but it’s only a maybe. Maybe I’d just be… dead. We had a wet…thing for dinner that night. Passed out by the short fat man from the morning. A single bowl, that’s what the army could spare. It barely passed as food but I ate it to make the growling stop.

“Robert. Why are you in the army?”

“I got picked. It was either this or working the fields with the Negroes. Ain’t no way I’d do that. ‘Sides maybe I’ll be remembered for this.”

“But if you could… not fight, would you?”

“Sure but I don’t see what choice I have. Deserters ain’t lastin’ long from what I hear. They die of starvation, or maybe they run into a Union patrol. Plus if this war turns sour, I ain’t gona have a home no more. Ain’t that worth fightin’ for Tommy?”

“My D-,“ I stopped, “my father told me that the Union won’t treat the South bad if they win. They just don’t want the slave trade anymore.”

“You some kind of northern sympathizer?” he asked disgusted.

“All I’m sayin is, if you live out the war I’m thinking you’ll still have a home. Even if it ain’t exactly the way you remember it.”

Robert put down his bowl. He hadn’t eaten the whole thing. “Whata you saying Tommy? You wana desert?” he said whispering.

“Better than fighting,” I said.

“You got a plan? Listen,” he said looking around, “I ain’t in, but if you have a plan I’m listening.”

I put down my bowl. “Before the gun sounds in the morning. Most everyones asleep. We move then right? No one will miss us. Does anyone here know you very well?”

“No, but listen. Where we gona go? Just follow the woods back?”

“Ya, listen I can hunt. I can get us food so we can get back to the tracks.” I realized my hand was on his shoulder. I let it drop, then continued, “Then we just follow the tracks…”

Robert shook is head, “Man I don’t know. I can’t come back to my family. What’l I say?”

“They don’t have to know. Stay with me,” I said. I didn’t know if I even had a house, or whether there was anyone else living with me. It was a gamble but I knew I couldn’t travel alone.

“Okay, one thing. We don’t leave if one of us don’t make it,” he said.

That night I awoke. It was dark outside. The only thing I could see in under the blanket was my own breath. I breathed on my hands and rubbed them together to warm them up. Then I tapped Robert. He stirred and sat up. This was it. I got up, followed by him. Two watchers. They each had torches and eyes, set on the borders of the surrounding forest.

We were camped on the top of a grassy hill. It led down on the north, west, and east to the forest. To the south the field extended eventually reaching a river, then a forested trail.

I approached the one patrolling our side of the camp. I tapped his shoulder from behind. He was startled, giving a quick twitch. He sighed when he turned and saw it was only me.

“Sir, I think their are snakes moving around my bed,” I said. My eyes twitched in between this watchman’s face and Robert moving towards the tree line.

“Move your bed,” he replied. He wasn’t up for bartering.

“Right, well I think theirs a bunch of them.”

“Do you have any proof?”

“No, no sir.”

“Get back to bed. Move your things if you need to, but I don’t want to see you up again. Understand?”

I nodded but I’m not sure he could even see my face in this dark. I went back to my blanket, noting that Roberts was gone, along with his things and waited for my signal.

Ten minutes later it came. Smoke from behind the tree line. Not very much, but enough to get the watchmen’s attention. They each roused a companion and together the four of them went to investigate. This was my shot. I shot out of bed and bundled up my blanket stuffing it in my pack. I slung my pack around my shoulder, making an undesirable clanking noise, and hefted my rifle. I moved as silently as I could through the field of sleeping bodies between me and the stretch of field before forest. I crunched a few leaves. Hell I almost fell on a man, but I was getting away with it.

Then just at the edge of the army camp from behind me came a growl, “Where do you think your going Zinderman?” I know that voice all too well. The bearded man from the train who I’d made the mistake of making enemies with. I knew then that it was all over.

I froze, “Thinking of going on a nice walk?” he asked mocking.

“What are you doing up?”

“Sometimes I can’t sleep, comes from getting older I suppose. How far did you think you were going to get huh? After the war, then what? You think those of us who survive this war are going to forgive you? No, your life will be hell if you run now. Besides I have a gun, and I ain’t had a moving target to practice on for years. Could be fun. So go, run.”

I thought about it for a good few seconds. Chances are in the dark he wouldn’t hit me, but the shots would wake everyone else up. Then what? The best I could do was give Robert a chance. We were supposed to meet at a river a couple miles back on the road. When I didn’t show up I hoped Robert would get the picture. I just hoped he could make it back home without me. Otherwise I’d just stopped a man from going into war only to die.

I smiled at the bearded man and went back to my sleeping spot. I laid out my blanket and tried to sleep. The man was watching me the whole night. Great just what I needed, someone watchin’ my every move.

If you enjoyed this installment of Mark of the Shadow please leave a review at the Web Fiction Guide or Tell Your Friends.

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Were stuck in this dungeon fighting the easiest and hardest enemies around. What’s up with that? We also prep for our future as hobos by sleeping in benches.

Over the past while I have been watching and giving my thoughts on the show Angel, which is a spinoff of the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I just finished the 5th and final season, so I’ll be giving my thoughts on that, and the entire show in the text below.

It’s All Over

Right after I finished this season, I went back and watched the first episode of Buffy, just to see the characters at the beginning. It’s amazing to see how Cordelia was a whiny popular girl, Angel was a complete stranger, Fred was a helpless captive, Gunn was a gangster, and just how different all the characters have become. I think the characters in Buffy/Angel are some of the best examples of dynamic characters in any media.

He literally has one facial expression

The reason I have a section called It’s All Over is because for me, Buffy is actually over. Timeline wise, this is the last thing that is put out in the form of television. I probably won’t read the comic continuations of the story so it’s the last I’ll see of these characters.

Fred/Illiria

I think that easily the best part of the season was Illyria. I thought that Fred’s death was done perfectly, and I wanted Fred and Westley to ship from the beginning so it really hit me emotionally. Then Illyia jumps in, and the thing with Holtz, and maaaaaannn that was a HEEELLLLAAA tight story arc.

Ah man look at those burning blue eyes

Another thing to bring up is Amy Acker’s god damn acting. I completely believed the changing between the two characters, and everything from her voice to her eye movement is just perfect. One more thing about Fred, why does her Texas accent just go away? Devin said this isn’t true but I AM RIGHT.

I said before that I wouldn’t read any Angel comic probably, but if there’s a series centered on her I will probably check it out.

Note: I also read that there was one centered on Spike being a puppet like in the episode “Smile Time” and JESUS I would read that so hard. 

The Finale

Overall I think that this was a GOOD season, but it was not GREAT (probably good.4). I remember I was on the penultimate episode, and I was thinking “How the BALLS are they going to close this all up in a single episode????” and boy DID THEY. It was just really COOL to start with, just with them all going after single members of the club, and them teaming up with Lindsey (and killing him) was very interesting. But beyond all the strong points it has, nothing sticks out to me as much as the Westley/Illyria scene. I loved how she became Fred just to comfort him, and on that note it was just nice to see her gradually start to care for him. Then there’s the part where she simultaneously turns back into Illyria and CRUSHES HIS ENTIRE HEAD WITH A SINGLE PUNCH. All though the head animation was somewhat laughable, it was the perfect way to show what she was feeling.

So overall I think that Angel is a terrific show that I would recommend to any Buffy fan, and I rate the five seasons as follows.